rdr\c 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


x. 


SENATOR  INTRIGUE 


AND 


INSPECTOR  NOSEBY 

A  TALE  OF  SPOILS 

BY 

FRANCES  CAMPBELL  SPARHAWK 

Author  of  "Onoqua,"  "A   Wedding  Tangle," 
"Chronicle  of   Conquest"  etc. 


BOSTON 

RID-LKTTER  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
1895 


COPYRIGHT,  1894 
BY 

FRANCES  CAMPBELL  SPARHAWX 


All  rights  reterved. 


STANDARD  Puss 
FXDBKAL  ST.,  BOSTON,  MAK. 


00 

ALL  WHO  WISH   OURS  TO   BE  A 

LAND   OF   HONOR  AND  NOT  OF  "SPOILS," 

THIS   BOOK   IS   DEDICATED  BY 

F.  C.  S. 


753407 


INTRODUCTION. 


"  You  are  much  condemn'd  to  have  an  itching  palm; 
To  sell  and  mart  your  offices  for  gold 
To  undeservers," 

said  the  old  Roman  to  his  colleague. 

Two  thousand  years  ago  the  "  spoils "  system 
was  a  dishonor. 

Yet  today  our  land  of  churches  and  missions  and 
all  benevolences  bears  this  stigma  of  "  Spoils." 

At  least,  we  ought  to  be  better  financiers  than 
to  give  money  with  one  hand  to  Indian  missions 
and  with  the  other  to  vote  into  office  men  whose 
example  does  more  to  demoralize  the  Indians 
than  we  can  build  up  in  thrice  the  time.  What 
use  to  say  that  our  rulers  do  this,  when  we  make 
the  rulers  ?  "  If  it  were  in  one  party  alone,  the 
evil  could  be  easily  met,"  we  say? 

It  will  be  met  now,  when  all  honest  men  every- 
where arm  themselves  with  justice  and  law,  and 
march  against  it. 

Let  us  open  our  eyes  to  the  evils  that  "  Spoils  " 
is  marshalling  on  all  sides  of  us,  let  us  form 
against  it,  charge,  and  overthrow  it. 

Among  the  many  faults  that  critics  will  find  in 
this  book,  the  author  points  out  one.  It  does 
not  tell  one  half  enough  of  the  mischief  and 
disaster  that  follow  in  the  wake  of  "  Spoils." 

F.  C.  S. 

NEWTON  CENTRE,  MASS. 


SENATOR  INTRIGUE 


AND 


INSPECTOR  NOSEBY; 

A  Tale  of  Spoils. 


I. 

fHE  wind  swept  along  the 
road  clouds  of  dust  that  now 
chased,  now  rose  and  danced 
on  before  the  riders  as  if  it 
were  a  part  of  the  grotesque  procession 
that  was  galloping  and  checking  and 
wheeling,  turning  and  returning,  weaving 
itself  in  and  out  like  the  bright  threads 
of  a  braid,  now  in  view,  now  disappear- 
ing, now  glancing  out  again  far  up  or  far 
down  the  road,  to  lose  itself  once  more, 
and  reappear.  Flashes  of  yellow  and 


IO 


blue  and  scarlet,  long  streamers  of  all 
hues  danced  and  waved  along  this  road, 
and,  with  the  earth  running  level  as  the 
sea  to  the  very  horizon,  stood  out  against 
the  radiant  sky  only  more  vivid  than 
themselves. 

And  the  dark  hue  of  the  wearers  as 
they  sped  by  added  the  sombre  touch 
that  was  needed  to  bring  out  the  full 
picturesqueness  of  this  procession. 

In  the  distance  and  the  haste,  who 
could  see  whether  grime  had  combined 
with  sun  to  produce  this  hue  ?  Who 
could  see  how  soiled  and  worn  were 
these  streamers  ?  Or,  in  the  swift  pas- 
sage, who  could  see  how  these  flashing 
eyes  failed  in  the  steady  light  that  re- 
veals the  awakened  mind,  and  how  these 
faces  lacked  the  lines  of  thought  and 
power  that  come  with  mental  growth  ? 
The  human  animal  was  wide  awake  and 
filled  with  the  sparkle  that  glowed  in  the 
sky  and  the  wine  of  life  quaffed  with 
every  breath  of  the  glorious  air. 


II 


On  three  sides  stretched  out  the 
plain,  like  the  tropic  ocean  in  a  calm, 
and  on  the  other  rose  the  divide,  as  if  it 
were  the  long  swell  of  the  coming  wave. 

On  the  slope  of  it,  and  all  along  the 
top,  as  if  this  crest  were  breaking  into 
foam,  the  tents  of  the  Indians  shone 
white  in  the  sunlight. 

For  it  was  June ;  and  ration  day  in  the 
Indian  Territory. 

On  went  the  tumultuous  procession, 
leaving  far  behind  the  rough  buildings 
of  the  agency  and  the  commissariat  and 
the  broad  road  that  here,  as  elsewhere, 
marked  the  incipient  Western  town. 
Up  over  the  divide  wound  the  trail,  and 
down  the  slope  to  the  river  which  was 
running  peacefully  now  within  its  banks 
stretched  out  so  far  beyond  the  shallow 
water  that  they  stood  in  grotesque  dis- 
use all  through  the  summer  heat,  but 
could  scarcely  hold  the  swollen,  turbid 
torrent  which  in  the  autumn  rains  and 
spring  freshets  roared  and  plunged 


12 


through  the  yearly  distending  gorges. 
The  stream  many  a  time  had  swept  away 
man  and  horse,  but  for  its  very  danger 
it  held  over  these  wild  natures  the  sway 
of  its  own  wildness. 

And  now,  as  men  and  women,  boys 
and  girls,  the  greater  part  of  them  on 
horseback,  a  few  in  wagons,  more  rare 
upon  the  reservations  in  those  days  than 
at  present,  forded  the  placid  river,  some 
of  them  told  with  many  gestures  the 
stories  of  their  adventures  here  or  spoke 
with  lower  breath  of  those  whose  last, 
fatal  adventure  had  been  here. 

Then  up  the  further  slope  they  went 
and  on  again  along  the  prairie,  where 
the  trail  was  lost  in  the  flower-starred 
grass,  dipped  down  into  the  brush  that 
grew  in  the  hollows,  and  wound  on  to  a 
part  of  the  divide  several  miles  away 
that,  being  the  highest  ground  in  the 
neighborhood,  did  duty  as  a  hill. 

Here  was  the  stockade.  The  cattle  to 
be  issued  had  been  driven  here  after  the 


'3 

rounding  up  of  the  afternoon  before. 
Here  the  Indians  collected  to  the  num- 
ber of  hundreds,  talking,  laughing,  greet- 
ing their  friends  from  a  distance,  and 
carrying  on  more  or  less  that  business 
dear  to  the  human  heart,  whether  savage 
or  civilized,  bargaining.  But  under  all 
there  was  attention  to  the  occupation  of 
the  day  as  they  watched  for  the  issue  to , 
begin. 

When  it  came  to  the  branding  of  the 
cattle,  a  little  man  with  hair  as  black  as 
an  Indian's  and  a  complexion  nearly  as 
dark,  moved  farther  away  from  the  stock- 
ade and  stood  with  his  black  brows 
drawn  together  until  they  ridged  them- 
selves in  a  heavy  line  of  protest  above 
his  brilliant  eyes. 

But  he  made  no  comment.  This  cru- 
elty was  one  of  the  lessons  that  Uncle 
Sam  was  teaching  his  red  wards.  The 
little  man  was  not  here  to  inveigh 
against  Government  methods. 

When  all  was  ready  the  Indians  gath- 


ered  themselves  to  the  work  as  if  it  were 
one  of  the  old  games  of  Indian  torture. 

The  poor  victims,  wild  with  terror  and 
agony,  fleeing  for  life  without  a  possibil- 
ity of  success,  ran  the  dreadful  gauntlet 
which  ended  for  them  only  with  the  fatal 
shot.  And  more  than  once  this  came 
from  the  unerring  aim  of  the  little  dark 
man  ;  more  than  once  his  determined 
hand  struck  down  the  drawn  bow  with 
its  arrow  ready  in  the  hands  of  a  boy  to 
bury  itself  in  the  creature  it  could  not  kill. 

"  You're  no  shots,"  he  cried  to  the  In- 
dians in  a  tone  that  made  them  wince. 

"  We  not  want  to  kill  too  soon,"  re- 
turned Accowvootz  stopping  to  reload 
as  he  spoke. 

"  Do  you  expect  a  poor  brute  to  stand 
torture  the  way  the  Indian  braves  used 
to?"  retorted  Sayre.  "  What's  the  fun 
of  hitting  where  there's  no  chance  to  hit 
back  ? "  he  added  with  that  accent  of 
contempt  which  never  failed  to  make  its 
impression  on  the  Indians. 


Queseo,  the  Indian  chief,  took  a  step 
nearer.  He  drew  the  folds  of  his  blan- 
ket together  majestically  and  stood  look- 
ing at  Sayre.  The  white  lines  of  wrin- 
kles with  which  his  dark  face  was  seamed 
shaped  themselves  into  a  bitter  smile. 

"  Not  so  in  the  old  days,"  he  said. 
"The  Indian  hunted  his  bears  and 
wolves,  the  wild  animals ;  he  took  his 
chances  then.  It's  the  great  father  at 
Washington  that  coops  up  his  hunt  and 
sends  us  old  cows  that  don't  know  how 
to  run,  nor  to  fight." 

Accowvootz  had  dropped  his  gun  and 
stood  listening.  Pow-watz,  the  medicine 
man,  came  up  with  a  long  stride,  all  the 
craft  in  his  face  flaming  up  in  delight  at 
this  rebuke  to  the  white  man.  Mannab 
and  Antelope  and  Humpback  stood 
around  watching. 

The  little  dark  man  gazed  around 
him,  straight  into  the  eyes  of  one  and 
another  of  them  with  an  almost  imper- 
ceptible hardening  of  nerve.  Then  his 


i6 

face  suddenly  relaxed ;  he  threw  back 
his  head  with  a  laugh.  "  That's  so,"  he 
said ;  and  nodded. 

"  Ya,  ya,  that's  so,"  returned  the  Ind- 
ians ;  and  nodded  and  laughed  also. 

"  But  you  wouldn't  be  satisfied  not  to 
shoot  at  something,"  he  added.  "  When 
you're  ready  we'll  show  you  something 
better." 

"  You  mean  about  the  hole  in  the 
ground  ?  "  questioned  Wolf's  Teeth  who 
had  drawn  near  and  with  the  butt  of  his 
rifle  resting  on  his  foot,  stood  gazing 
down  into  the  muzzle. 

"Look  out!"  vociferated  the  white 
man.  "  Do  you  want  to  blow  your  head 
off?  You  won't  make  good  beef;  you're 
too  tough." 

Wolf's  Teeth  pulled  himself  up  and 
joined  in  the  guffaw  that  followed. 
Then  he  repeated  his  question  about  the 
hole  in  the  ground. 

"  Come  tomorrow  and  see,"  returned 
Sayre,  moving  off  as  he  spoke. 


I? 

"  Ya,  ya,  we  all  come  tomorrow,"  the 
Indians  called  after  him  as  he  mounted 
and  galloped  back  to  the  agency 

As  he  went,  he  carried  with  him  the 
picture  of  a  young  girl  whom  he  had 
singled  out  from  many  because  he  knew 
her  to  be  gentle  and  teachable.  She 
was  Wolf  Teeth's  daughter.  There  she 
squatted  with  women  and  other  girls 
down  among  the  dead  and  dying  animals. 
With  her  long  knife  she  had  begun  to 
cut  strips  of  the  palpitating  flesh  from 
which  the  life  had  not  yet  ebbed  away. 
Soon  (he  had  seen  it  before) ,  her  hands 
would  be  filled  with  the  horrid  entrails 
and  she  would  be  devouring  them  like  a 
hungry  animal,  as  she  was. 

The  white  man  recalled  that  there 
must  have  been  a  time  when  his  race 
also  was  like  this,  in  days  so  long  gone 
by  as  to  be  forgotten.  His  reading  had 
not  been  extensive.  It  did  not  picture 
to  him  a  scene  of  today  in  which  gallant 
gentlemen  and  gay  ladies,  habited  most 


i8 

daintily,  mounted  most  superbly,  went 
bolting  over  hedge  and  ditch  in  a  land 
where  every  hill  and  vale  bear  impress 
of  the  cultivation  of  centuries.  It  did 
not  show  him  the  victim  of  their  hunt 
pulled  down  by  dogs  and  selling  his 
poor  life  with  desperate  courage.  It  did 
not  picture  to  him  the  fairest  and  the 
gayest  in  all  that  train  kneeling  and  with 
her  own  hands  severing  the  brush  from 
the  still  palpitating  fox.  It  did  not  show 
her  to  him  carrying  this  home  in  token 
of  a  victory  of  which  she  would  hear  her 
praises  sung  in  evening  hours  of  song 
and  gayety  in  that  land  across  the  sea 
which  holds  itself  the  proudest  and  the 
highest  in  all  the  earth.  The  one 
woman's  act  was  through  hunger ;  the 
other's  for  sheer  sport.  The  first  was 
only  a  poor  savage  ;  the  last  a  lady  of 
high  degree. 

Is  this  the  distinction  that  is  worth  a 
thousand  years  of  civilization  ? 

But  as  Sayre  knew  nothing  of  this,  he 


19 

thought  only  of  the  savagery,  and 
longed  for  a  better  law. 

And  yet,  today,  when  the  better  law 
has  come,  where  are  the  appliances 
which  can  make  it  anything  but  a  dead 
letter?  The  benevolence  that  guards 
the  dumb  creatures  here  stretches  no 
arm  of  law  out  to  the  Indian  reserva- 
tions. And  to  the  great  American  civil- 
ization these  men  and  women  of  the 
same  blood  as  the  white  race  are  a 
thousand  years  behind. 

A  thousand  years  behind  a  people 
who  travel  by  electricity !  Hopeless ! 

How  much  we  have  done  and  how 
much  forgotten  since  the  day  when  the 
balance  trembled  between  English  pos- 
session and  French  possession  of  this 
continent,  and  the  weight  of  an  Indian's 
hand  in  friendship  turned  it,  — for  us. 

Sayre  went  on  thoughtful.  But  his 
were  the  thoughts  that  speedily  ripen 
into  action.  For,  the  force  in  the  man 
was  no  galvanism  of  office,  but  vitality. 


He  had  already  been  here  for  several 
years ;  he  had  made  the  Indian  charac- 
ter a  study.  It  was  not  strange,  there- 
fore, that  he  had  acquired  a  certain  as- 
cendency over  the  Indians  although  he 
held  no  post  of  authority,  being  only  the 
trader's  clerk. 

It  was  October,  and  nearly  a  month 
since  Sayre  had  drawn  up  the  first 
bucket  of  good  water  from  that  "  hole  in 
the  ground,"  the  growth  of  which  the 
Indians  had  watched  with  such  interest. 
Even  Accowvootz,  the  critical,  had  de- 
cided that  the  promised  water  was  fine. 
Then  he  looked  into  Sayre's  face  with  a 
slow,  shrewd  smile. 

"  You  say  it  better  than  firewater  ? " 
he  added  meaningly. 

"  Well,  isn't  it?"  asked  the  other. 

Accowvootz  pointed  to  the  open  door 
of  the  trader's  store,  where  at  the  mo- 
ment an  officer  who  had  come  down  the 
day  before  was  standing  at  the  counter 


21 


stirring  the  liquor  in  his  tumbler  vigor- 
ously ;  he  had  held  it  his  first  duty  to 
inspect  the  drinks  which  it  was  possible 
for  a  white  man  in  authority  to  get  upon 
this  reservation,  and  the  trader  knew 
well  that  the  more  satisfactory  these 
were  found  to  be,  the  better  would  be 
his  report.  His  experiment  had  made 
him  desirous  to  try  again.  Accowvootz' 
eyes  narrowed,  and  a  keen  ray  shot  out 
from  them  as  he  said, 

"  The  white  man  not  think  that.  I 
think  like  the  white  man." 

Upon  the  spot  Sayre  had  registered  a 
vow  which  he  never  broke.  For,  from 
that  day  no  firewater  passed  his  lips. 
His  Indians  should  not  be  drunkards 
from  his  example. 

But  in  spite  of  this  preference  for  fire- 
water in  accordance  with  the  white  man's 
ways,  the  well  was  freely  patronized 
by  the  Indians.  It  was  on  account  of 
the  enforcement  of  a  regulation  of 
Sayre's  in  regard  to  this  well  that  this 


22 


October  morning  the  Indians  were  hold- 
ing an  impromptu  council.  Wolf's 
Teeth  and  Wahbotz  had  come  riding 
furiously  into  camp.  They  had  an- 
nounced that  they  had  been  to  the  well 
for  water,  and  the  white  man  had  forbid- 
den it  to  them.  He  had  told  the  Indi- 
ans to  use  the  well,  and  now  he  had 
not  only  refused  these  two  a  drink,  but 
he  had  driven  them  away.  They  had 
done  nothing.  They  had  refused  to  go ; 
and  he  had  made  them  go.  They  had 
ridden  up  to  the  well.  Why  not?  But 
he  had  put  a  fence  all  around. 

"And  now  he  say,  'Get  down,  In- 
dian ;  your  horse's  feet  muddy  the  water ; 
jump  off  and  walk  inside  and  drink.' 
We  not  be  told  how  to  drink,"  growled 
Wahbotz. 

"  He  order  us  all  the  time,"  hissed 
Accowvootz.  "  He  not  white  chief  here; 
we  are  the  head  men ;  we  teach  him  to 
do  as  we  please." 

Pow-watz  drew  nearer  to  the  younger 


23 

men  who  had  brought  back  news  of  their 
defeat. 

"  He  make  you  go  ? "  he  asked  them 
with  an  inflection  that  caused  the  group 
about  them  to  look  at  them  derisively. 
"He  make  you  go  away?  You  do 
always  as  the  white  man  say,  you  child- 
ren. Let  the  old  men  deal  with  him." 

Wahbotz  uttered  a  cry  of  rage. 
Wolfs  Teeth  drew  himself  up,  and  his 
glowing  eyes  and  working  face  sug- 
gested his  name.  It  usually  took  a 
third  person  to  rouse  him  thoroughly, 
but  he  could  be  worked  into  fury,  as 
none  knew  better  than  Pow-watz. 

"  I  teach  him  better!"  he  cried. 

Then  it  was  that  Pow-watz,  his  pur- 
pose accomplished,  nodded  at  the  other. 
"  Yes,  you  teach  him,"  he  said,  in  a  fero- 
cious tone.  "  Brave  Wolf's  Teeth.  I 
help  you  ;  the  Medicine  Man  help ;  he 
make  the  white  man  all  weak.  Then 
you  fight  him." 

But  as  the  words  fell  into  the  circle 


24 

there  was  a  pause ;  the  Indians  looked 
at  one  another. 

For,  they  were  recalling  a  few  episodes 
in  the  life  of  this  man  since,  several 
years  before,  he  had  come  among  them  ; 
not  his  many  benefits  to  them ;  these 
were  at  the  moment  as  thoroughly  for- 
gotten as  if  the  beneficiaries  had  been 
white  men.  But  Pow-watz'  threat  had 
made  them  remember  how  two  of  them 
had  seen  Sayre  on  the  plain  when  he  lay 
down  upon  the  ground  and  ordered 
them  to  strike  upon  a  stone  upon  his 
chest.  They  had  obeyed  in  fear  and 
trembling,  desiring  not  to  hurt  him. 
But  they  had  told  it  as  a  marvel  that 
when  they  had  actually  broken  the  stone 
there  he  had  risen  up  and  walked  around 
as  well  as  ever.  The  tribe  had  decided 
that  the  white  man  had  "medicine"  on 
his  chest. 

And  scores  of  them  had  seen  another 
thing  that  happened  one  day  before  the 
well  was  finished.  Something  had  gone 


25 

wrong  and  Sayre  was  down  in  "  the  hole 
in  the  ground "  digging  away  with  all 
his  might.  Suddenly,  a  rope  broke  in 
the  tackle  above,  and  the  enormous 
bucket  heaped  full  of  earth  swung  loose 
and  went  crashing  down  into  the  well 
with  a  thud  that  shook  the  ground. 

Underneath  it  all  was  the  white  man  ! 

The  Indians  crowded  about  the  open- 
ing, some  with  sympathy,  Queseo,  Pow- 
watz  and  a  few  others  with  secret  exul- 
tation that  this  light  shining  into  the 
darkest  of  their  dark  ways  was  stamped 
out  forever.  But  they  all  did  what  they 
could  to  help  the  white  men  at  work  to 
hoist  up  the  bucket  again.  They  bent 
over  to  espy  the  jellied  form  of  the  man 
whom  they  all  recognized  as  their  friend, 
even  if  he  had  been  too  much  their 
master. 

There  stood  Sayre  as  alert  as  ever, 
and  unhurt  save  for  a  scratch  upon  his 
forehead  and  nose.  As  the  Indians 
stared  at  him  in  an  amazement  not  un- 


26 

mixed  with  awe,  he  climbed  up  the  well 
and  walked  off  to  the  doctor's  to  have 
his  wound  dressed.  He  had  not  found 
it  necessary  to  explain  that  an  uneven- 
ness  in  the  side  of  the  well  into  which  he 
had  pressed  himself  had  saved  him  from 
everything  but  a  graze  from  the  bucket 
as  it  passed  him. 

"  He's  all  medicine  but  his  forehead," 
the  Indians  had  decided. 

It  was  this  that  they  were  remember- 
ing now. 

It  was  Accowvootz  who  at  last  sug- 
gested that  rifles  could  make  strong 
men  weak  all  at  once  and  save  time. 

This  suggestion  brought  about  an 
animated  discussion  in  which  all  Pow- 
watz'  skill  was  exerted  to  foment  the 
strife. 

In  the  height  of  the  tumult  Queseo 
made  his  decision. 

"  Come  with  me,"  he  announced. 
"We  break  through  to  the  hole  in  the 
ground ;  we  get  the  water,  and  drink  it, 


2? 

or" — he  paused  and  looked  about  him, 
— "  or,"  he  went  on,  "  we  teach  the 
white  man  a  lesson  he  never  forget, — 
never ! "  And  his  nod  was  more  signifi- 
cant than  his  words. 

A  shout  of  assent  went  up  from  many 
throats. 

As  the  men  were  mounting,  Cheko- 
toco,  a  boy  of  fourteen,  ran  up  to  his 
father. 

"Let  me  go,  too,"  he  pleaded.  "I 
want  to  see  you  teach  the  white  man." 

The  chief  assented. 

Sayre  from  the  window  of  the  trader's 
store  saw  the  approaching  cavalcade. 

He  made  no  mistake  as  to  its  mean- 
ing. The  Indians  had  resented  his 
authority.  They  had  taken  issue  with 
him  upon  a  point  upon  which  he  knew 
he  was  right ;  and  so  did  they.  He  had 
roused  the  evil  element  against  himself. 
He  was  upon  trial  for  his  life. 

"  It's  come,  Hutchins,"  he  said  to  the 
trader.  "  It  was  bound  to  come." 


28 

And  putting  on  his  hat,  he  walked 
with  steady  step  down  to  the  well. 

He  had  barely  stationed  himself  at 
the  gate  of  the  enclosure  when  the  head 
of  the  procession  rode  toward  him  in  a 
fury  that  was  intended  to  make  the 
white  man  recoil  from  his  path,  or  else 
to  ride  him  down. 

But  Sayre  still  blocked  the  way.  And 
as  he  stood,  not  only  was  he  immovable, 
but  his  face  and  his  whole  figure  hard- 
ened as  if  he  were  in  a  coat  of  mail 
made  from  his  muscles  of  steel. 

When  there  are  two,  it  must  be  one 
that  gives  way,  be  it  ever  so  little. 
Queseo  checked  the  pace  of  his  horse 
somewhat,  even  as  he  shouted, 

"Stand  back!  I  want  water.  I  go  inside." 

His  horse's  nose  plunged  against  the 
white  man's  shoulder. 

Sharply,  as  from  a  blow,  the  creature 
reared  upon  his  haunches,  and  the  hand 
upon  his  bridle  turned  him  across  the 
open  gate. 


29 

"  You  may  go  on  ;  but  not  your  horses. 
That  is  my  law.  You  must  obey  it." 
The  tone  of  the  one  man  unarmed  rang 
out  in  command  of  the  twenty  armed, 
stern  above  his  words.  And  the  Indians 
could  not  find  that  the  man  standing 
there  with  his  eyes  looking  through  each 
of  them,  taking  note  of  every  stalwart 
figure  and  every  gun  well  brandished, 
knew  how  easily  it  all  might  be 
ended,  and  how  in  an  another  instant 
they  might  ride  in  triumphant  and  drink 
of  the  water  of  victory.  And  with  all 
Pow-watz'  hate,  this  was  what  he  would 
have  liked,  to  cow  the  white  man,  even 
more  than  to  kill  him. 

"  We  shoot  you  ! "  cried  Queseo. 

Instantly,  a  dozen  rifles  were  aimed  at 
Say  re. 

Sayre  placed  a  hand  upon  each  gate- 
post, and  with  unwavering  eyes  stood 
there  as  full  of  silent  threat  as  a  loaded 
cannon  in  the  breach. 


II. 

IT  was  in  this  moment  of  inde- 
cision at  the  sight  of  decision 
that  the  trader  called  out, 
"  Can  I  help  you  Sayre?" 
he  called  back.  "Get  your 
rifle  and  draw  on  one  Indian,  and  at  the 
first  shot  you  hear,  kill  your  man." 
Then  he  said  to  the  Indians,  from  whom 
he  had  never  turned  his  eyes,  "Shoot 
me  if  you  like.  They  will  punish  you  ; 
and  see  if  they  will  send  you  a  better 
man.  But  at  the  first  shot  you  fire,  one 
of  you  falls  dead.  See  that  man.  You 
know  him.  He  hits  every  time.  Try  it 
if  you  like.  And  there  '11  be  one  dead 
Indian." 

There  was  a  moment's  pause, — a  fall- 
ing back. 


Sayre,  whom  nothing  escaped,  not 
only  saw  this,  he  also  saw  victory  at  his 
very  feet. 

Darting  down,  he  caught  up  the  stout 
stick  with  which  he  had  driven  back 
Wolf's  Teeth  and  Wahbotz. 

In  a  flash  it  descended  on  Queseo. 

"Off  your  horse,  Queseo!"  he  cried 
as  his  blow  sent  the  Indian  to  the 
ground.  "Shame  on  you,  the  chief,  to 
set  such  an  example.  Behave  better,  or 
you  '11  get  more  than  you  want.  Back, 
Pow-watz !  Wahbotz !  All  of  you." 

And  with  a  fencer's  art  he  plied  the 
simple  weapon  until  more  than  one 
Indian  had  retreated  well  out  of  reach. 

They  halted  then ;  but  no  one  fired. 
The  rifle  that  never  missed  was  behind. 

With  the  weight  of  Sayre's  cudgel 
added  to  that  of  his  courage,  Queseo 
sullenly  remounted,  wheeled  slowly,  and 
rode  off. 

The  others  followed,  sullen  and  mut- 
tering. 


32 

Sayre  stood  there  like  an  embodied 
avenger  as  they  turned  and  watched 
him. 

When  the  last  had  disappeared,  he 
walked  back  to  the  store. 

"Thank  you,  Hutchins,"  he  said  as 
he  hung  up  his  hat  again.  "  You 
trumped  that  time." 

"Will  they  try  it  again,  do  you 
think  ? "  inquired  Hutchins  anxious  for 
his  friend,  for  the  comradeship  of  these 
two  men  was  strong. 

Sayre  laughed  dryly.  "  They  know  as 
well  as  I  do  that  they  're  wrong,"  he 
answered.  "And  they're  as  good  as 
white  men  for  knowing  when  they  're 
beaten, — better,  I  think.  But  the  spirit 
will  probably  show  itself  again  in  some 
way.  Our  foot  will  have  to  be  well  on 
the  neck  of  that  chief  before  the  good 
that's  down  here  will  have  a  show- 
ing." 

"  You  Ve  about  the  right  of  it," 
assented  the  other. 


33 

After  a  pause  Sayre  went  on  gravely, 
"  Folks  have  a  notion,  Hutchins,  that 
the  Lord 's  all  sentiment.  But  I  tell  you 
there  's  times  when  '  the  Lord  is  a  man 
of  war.'" 

"  He  get  it,  too,"  muttered  Wolf's 
Teeth  with  a  glance  at  the  chief,  and  his 
own  back  no  longer  stung. 

"  White  man  big  chief,"  whispered 
Chekotoco  to  him  as  they  rode  on  be- 
hind the  others. 

Wolf's  Teeth  nodded. 

Several  years  had  passed  since  the 
little,  dark  man  had  won  his  victory  at 
the  well.  Other  victories  had  followed. 
He  had  gained  the  first  by  sheer  force 
of  character,  for  as  trader's  clerk  he  had 
had  no  authority  to  back  him. 

Now,  however,  he  had  been  for  three 
years  superintendent  of  the  new  school 
started  at  that  time  upon  the  reservation. 
At  the  same  time  Hutchins  had  been 
made  agent.  These  appointments  had 


34 

been  founded  upon  fitness,  and  their 
success  was  marked. 

The  process  of  carting  the  mountain 
to  Mahomet  must  always  be  slow,  and 
can  never  be  complete.  Still,  the  In- 
dians were  rising,  they  were  getting  to 
the  height  of  a  somewhat  wider  view  ; 
for  out  of  the  dead  level  of  barbarism  a 
few  inspirations  were  lifting  their  heads. 

Already,  in  the  minds  of  some  of  the 
Indians  there  had  awakened  that  discon- 
tent with  their  present  which  is  the 
surest  evidence  of  affinity  with  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  For  the  most  de- 
grading customs  of  the  earlier  days  had 
been  set  aside  under  the  rule  of  Hutchins 
and  Sayre,  gentle  or  stern  as  the  case  re- 
quired, and  throughout  the  whole  tribe, 
with  a  few  choice  exceptions,  the  power 
of  Queseo  and  Pow-watz  was  steadily 
waning.  It  was  with  anguish  that  these 
two  and  their  select  set  had  looked  for- 
ward to  its  extinction.  But  even  this 
was  abating.  They  were  so  evenly  gov- 


35 

erned  that,  in   spite  of  themselves,  they 
could  not  help  being  comfortable. 

Wolf's  Teeth  especially  had  taken  to 
heart  the  lesson  at  the  well.  It  was  he 
who  one  crisp  December  day  stood 
smiling  before  the  superintendent. 

"  Napooaz  come  home,"  he  said,  after 
his  greeting.  Wolf's  Teeth  prided  him- 
self upon  his  English.  "You  see  him? 
He  George  Washington  now.  He  have 
his  hair  cut  like  a  white  man ;  he  wear 
clothes ;  he  look  fine.  You  cut  my  hair, 
too." 

Sayre's  heart  bounded;  for  only  in- 
tense conviction  would  make  an  Indian 
part  with  his  scalp  lock.  He  took  upon 
himself  with  alacrity  the  office  of  barber. 

"Now  I  have  clothes,"  said  Wolf's 
Teeth.  "  Can't  be  white  man  without 
clothes."  And  he  flipped  his  blanket 
with  a  new  disdain. 

But  Wolf's  Teeth  was  a  head  taller 
than  Sayre,  and  the  man  of  resources 
hesitated. 


36 

"You  here  to  make  Indian  like  white 
man,"  continued  the  other,  with  keen 
eyes  upon  him. 

And  then  Sayre  had  it.  There  were 
in  store  the  suits  that  another  tribe  had 
refused. 

Wolf's  Teeth  in  full  citizen's  dress, 
even  to  a  necktie,  which  he  had  asked 
for,  gave  himself  a  long  look  of  satisfac- 
tion in  Sayre's  little  mirror.  Then  he 
faced  about. 

"Now,  you  give  me  work,"  he  said. 
"  When  clothes  wear  out,  white  man  buy 
more ;  and  white  man  always  eat.  I  like 
white  man  ;  I  work ;  I  get  new  clothes ;  I 
eat." 

The  little,  dark  man  looked  down  sud- 
denly. For,  in  spite  of  his  smile,  his 
eyes  had  filled.  He  had  worked  so  long 
and  so  hard,  and  now  that  the  results 
had  begun,  things  would  go  faster. 
Ever  since  the  day  at  the  well  Wolf's 
Teeth  had  been  a  devoted  friend,  and 
many  a  talk  had  they  had  as  to  the  white 


37 

man's  way.  Now  Napooaz'  appearance 
had  stirred  his  mind  and  crystallized  his 
floating  ideas  into  set  purpose.  Other 
converts  would  follow.  And  Sayre  who 
had  labored  so  faithfully  for  this  would 
see  the  growth  and  help  it  on. 

Already,  the  forces  in  him  were  rising 
to  meet  the  new  occasion  and  use  it  to 
the  utmost,  as  he  raised  his  head  and 
answered  Wolf's  Teeth. 

"Yes,  yes,"  he  said,  "I'll  tell  you 
what  you  can  do." 

As  Sayre  was  speaking  these  words, 
two  men  were  standing  in  the  lobby  of 
the  Senate  at  Washington.  One  of 
them  had  just  come  out  from  the  Cham- 
ber to  meet  his  companion  here. 

"  You  '11  have  to  think  up  two  places, 
Noseby,"  said  the  senator  as  they  walked 
slowly  away  together.  "  My  word  is 
pledged.  My  honor  is  concerned. 
Green  really  did  a  great  deal  for  me, 
and  Barnes  was  perfectly  indispensable. 


They  're  superb  henchmen,  both  of  them, 
something  of  the  bygone  loyalty  about 
them.  I  must  reward  them.  Think, 
now.  And  I  won't  forget  you  when  your 
name  comes  up.  The  crush  for  places 
is  so  terrific  that,  with  those  I  Ve  already 
hoisted  in,  there's  not  a  chance  out  of 
the  Indian  service ;  lucky  for  us  there  's 
that.  Long  may  it  survive,  the  fittest 
spoil  of  all." 

"  Yes,"  returned  Inspector  Noseby 
slowly,  "  the  reservations  are  pretty  well 
tucked  out  of  the  way,  and  nobody  cares 
what  we  do  there,  except  the  philan- 
thropists ;  they  look  sharp  after  us  and 
the  Civil  Service.  The  Civil  Service  ! " 
Both  men  stopped  to  laugh.  "  But 
then,  senator,"  the  inspector  went  on, 
"we  have  to  be  mighty  careful,  you 
know  ;  and  that  counts;  you'll  remember 
that  ?  " 

"And  tuck  it  on  to  your  salary,  hey? 
The  honorable  body  shall  be  well  posted 
as  to  your  valuable  services,  that  is  to 


39 

say,  on  some  of  them.  How's  that, 
Noseby  ?  Shall  we  give  away  the 
whole  ? " 

"You'll  use  your  customary  discre- 
tion, senator."  And  again  the  men 
laughed.  "There's  one  place,"  pursued 
the  speaker,  "  where  they're  getting  on 
rayther  too  fast.  What  do  you  say  to  an 
agent  and  a  superintendent  ? " 

"  Good !  Go  ahead,  Noseby.  But 
look  out  you  don't  run  counter  to  our 
Civil  Reform." 

The  other  chuckled.  "  Why,  senator, 
they're  bad  men.  That's  the  only 
reason  we  have  for  turning  'em  out. 
That's  Civil  Reform  !  They  don't  treat 
poor  Lo  right." 

"  Yes,  yes,  that's  it.  There's  no 
need  of  further  instructions  to  you, 
Noseby." 

"  Not  much,"  chuckled  the  other. 

Senator  Intrigue  smiled  and  nodded, 
and  passed  on,  leaving  Noseby  still 
chuckling. 


40 

"  We'll  go  out  into  the  timber,  Wolf's 
Teeth,"  said  Sayre  ;  "  and  you  shall  have  a 
lumber  camp  and  cut  wood  like  the  white 
men.  But  you  can't  stay  there  all  alone. 
You'll  have  to  go  down  into  the  camp 
and  get  some  oi  your  relations  to  go 
with  you." 

"My  cousin  Wahbotz  go  with  me," 
asserted  the  other.  "And  Arreep,  my 
uncle,  he  go,  too." 

"And  there's  a  young  man  ready  to 
do  something."  And  Sayre  pointed  to  a 
young  fellow  in  citizen's  dress  coming 
round  the  corner  of  the  school  building 
on  the  piazza  of  which  they  were  stand- 
ing. 

" Yes,"  returned  Wolf's  Teeth,  "may 
be  Chekotoco  go.  But  he  like  it  better 
round  here."  And  as  his  eyes  turned 
from  following  the  direction  in  which  the 
young  man  was  looking,  he  smiled 
shrewdly  at  the  white  man. 

Sayre  glanced  there  also,  then  turned 
himself  about,  smiled  and  spoke. 


"Ah!  You  there,  Wasu?"  he  said. 
"  Come  out  and  speak  to  your  father." 

A  sweet  face,  not  without  prettiness, 
disappeared  from  the  window,  and  in 
another  moment  an  Indian  girl  neatly 
dressed  was  greeting  Wolf's  Teeth  with 
smiles  deepening  into  dimples.  She 
was  nineteen,  and  looked  the  prettier  for 
the  glimpses  of  a  modest  coquetry  that 
one  caught  in  the  scarlet  ribbon  with 
which  she  tied  her  braids  and  the  excel- 
lent fit  of  her  woollen  gown  with  its 
band  of  white  about  her  throat.  Every 
afternoon  she  went  to  school.  She  was 
now  upon  her  way  to  the  recitation 
room.  She  was  fairly  quick  at  her  stud- 
ies, and  she  liked  the  simple  reading 
that  she  could  understand.  In  the 
mornings  she  helped  Mrs.  Sayre  about 
the  house,  and  was  learning  to  be  a  good 
cook. 

And  she  had  come  to  like  her  meat 
well  done.  Sayre's  heart  swelled  as  he 
looked  at  her  and  recalled  that  day  when 


42 

he  had  seen  her  on  the  field  at  the  beef 
issue.  He  did  not  wonder  that  Cheko- 
toco,  lately  returned  from  a  training 
school  to  which  he  had  gone  through 
Sayre's  persuasions,  looked  with  more 
than  approval  at  Wasu.  And  he  did  not 
object  to  it.  If  things  went  on  as  he 
hoped,  his  wife  and  he  would  give  Wasu 
a  pretty  wedding.  And  then  he  had 
plans  for  the  two  young  people  which 
would  give  them  a  fair  chance  in  life,  a 
chance  that  they,  fettered  by  the  past 
and  unassured  of  the  future,  would  never 
win  for  themselves. 

And  then,  there  was  Wolf's  Teeth 
whom  Sayre  stood  watching  go  his  way 
to  bring  more  to  travel  the  white  man's 
road. 

"  Work  !  "  he  said  to  himself,  as  the 
Indian  disappeared  in  the  distance. 
And  more  plainly  than  ever  did  he  per- 
ceive that  work  is  the  first  of  all  inspira- 
tions to  good,  is  that  path  which  God 
has  appointed  out  of  Paradise  up  to 


43 

Heaven,  stony  and  steep,  it  is  true,  but 
with  healthful  air  and  wholesome  fruits. 

As  he  watched  these  Indians'  first 
steps  in  this  path,  there  came  to  him, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  something  of 
the  same  interest  with  which  a  parent 
watches  the  first  steps  of  his  child.  He 
stood  there  on  the  piazza  a  moment 
alone,  planning  and  smiling.  His  face 
shone  with  delight. 

He  went  in  and  told  his  wife.  "  It 
will  all  come  in  time,  Mary,"  he  said. 
"  It  takes  only  time  and  sticking  to  it." 

His  eyes  were  holden,  and  he  had  no 
glimpse  of  the  sword  of  Damocles  sus- 
pended over  his  head. 

It  was  a  week  after  this  that  Wolf's 
Teeth  made  the  centre  of  an  animated 
group,  to  whom  he  was  telling  his  expe- 
riences. 

"Wahbotz  and  Arreep  and  I,"  he 
said,  "we  go  to  work  like  the  white 
man.  Mr.  Sayre  go  with  us  to  show  us 


44 

how.  We  go  up  into  the  woods  to  our 
camp.  I  ask,  '  We  take  our  squaws  ? ' 
The  white  man  shake  his  head.  '  No, 
no,'  he  say,  '  that  not  the  way  the  white 
men  do,  they  go  up  by  themselves.' 
So,  we  go  on.  By  and  by  Wahbotz  ask, 
'  Who'll  put  up  our  lodge  for  us  ?  '  The 
white  man  turn  around  to  him.  '  I  put 
up  the  lodge,'  he  say.  '  You  don't  need 
your  squaws  for  that.'  The  white  man 
know  everything.  So,  we  go  on.  Then 
we  come  to  a  place.  White  man  say, 
'  This  is  good  ;  we  will  stop  here.'  In- 
dian look  around  him.  White  man  is 
right ;  water  near  ;  ground  good,  plenty 
of  wood,  big  trees  to  chop.  Here  we 
make  camp.  And  now  the  white  man 
put  up  lodge.  White  man  do  every- 
thing." 

Here  a  reminiscence  stirred  Wolfs 
Teeth's  soul  with  laughter  and  rippled 
over  the  faces  of  his  companions. 

"  White  man  try  and  try,"  he  went  on. 
"  He  try  again  as  he  tell  us  ;  and  he  not 


45 

know  how.  He  give  it  up,  and  laugh, 
and  say,  '  Go  back,  Wolfs  Teeth,  and 
get  your  squaw,  and  she  will  put  up  the 
lodge  for  us,  and  she  will  cook  for  us.' 
And  so  I  go  back.  But  white  man  not 
lose  his  chance;  he  tell  us  we  see  how 
useful  our  squaws  are  and  how  we 
ought  to  be  good  to  them."  And  Wolf's 
Teeth's  amusement  was  echoed  by  the 
red  men  who  are  keen  for  a  joke  and 
only  stolidly  grave  to  assert  their  dignity 
to  the  white  man.  "  The  white  man 
laugh,  too,"  he  said.  "And  he  show  us 
how  to  measure  wood ;  how  to  cut  it. 
He  leave  us  there.  We  begin  three 
Indians,  all  like  the  white  man.  When 
we  end,  we  twenty.  We  all  get  our 
pay  ;  the  Indians  that  not  work,  they  all 
stand  round  then,  and  they  wish  that 
money  was  going  into  their  hands.  We 
like  white  man's  ways ;  we  like  his 
money  best  of  all." 

And  Wolt's  Teeth  went  on  to  tell  the 
astonishing  fact  that  he  had   bought  a 


46 

pair  of  mules  on  his  promise  to  pay,  his 
simple  word  which  Sayre  had  endorsed 
and  which  the  Indian  afterward  scrupu- 
lously fulfilled,  and  that  henceforth  he 
was  going  to  work  and  be  rich,  like  the 
white  man. 

But  Sayre  rejoiced  in  his  triumph,  for 
before  the  end  of  the  week  twenty  Indi- 
ans had  joined  their  pioneers  in  the 
lumber  camp,  and  he  had  witnessed 
their  filing  in  clothed  in  citizen's  dress 
to  be  paid  for  their  work,  and  he  had 
seen  the  stir  that  it  made  among  the 
other  Indians,  and  their  appreciation  of 
the  results,  if  not  of  the  work.  Had 
Sayre  known  of  the  amusement  which 
his  mistake  had  caused  Wolf's  Teeth  and 
his  companions,  he  would  have  laughed 
with  them.  For,  his  dignity  was  as  real 
as  gravitation,  and  as  impossible  to  up- 
set. 

It  was  a  beautiful  evening  in  late 
April.  The  Indian  parents  and  friends 


47 

had  come  to  see  the  pupils  of  the  school. 
Wasu  sat  with  Chekotoco  at  one  of  the 
windows  of  the  assembly  room.  They 
had  been  talking  earnestly  for  some  time. 

"  My  father  is  not  like  yours,"  said  the 
young  man.  "  Wolf's  Teeth  is  a  real 
white  man.  He's  making  money  with 
his  mules ;  he's  a  jolly  teamster ;  he 
works  hard.  You'll  be  rich,  Wasu.  I 
don't  like  that.  Then,  perhaps  you 
won't  care  about  me." 

Wasu  gave  him  a  sideways  glance. 
She  had  more  serious  doubts  than  she 
liked  to  own  as  to  the  depth  of  her  lov- 
er's civilization.  He  was  Queseo's  son, 
and  Queseo  went  right  because  he  had 
to  do  it.  If  the  white  men  did  not  know 
this,  the  Indians  did. 

"  My  father  not  very  rich  yet,"  she 
answered.  '*  You  know  how  it  was  this 
spring.  But  why  don't  you  get  rich, 
too  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  How?"  questioned  Chekotoco  with 
an  interest  that  was  genuine. 


48 

"  O,  I  can't  tell  you,"  answered  the 
girl.  "Ask  Mr.  Sayre;  he  tell  you  all 
about  it ;  he  know  everything." 

There  was  a  moment's  silence  which 
Wasu  broke  by  a  running  comment  upon 
some  of  the  visitors.  "  Humpback  is 
half  white  man,"  she  said.  "  Look  at 
his  hat  and  boots.  But  he  hold  on  to 
his  blanket.  His  daughter,  she  go  to 
school,  you  know,  and  she  try  to  make 
them  clean  up  when  she  go  home ; 
but"— 

But  Chekotoco  who  had  not  answered 
her  at  all,  here  broke  out  with,  "If  I  do 
get  to  be  a  rich  man,  Wasu,  and  have  a 
good  house,  will  you  come  and  live  in  it 
with  me  ?  " 

"  Hush  !  "  said  the  girl  seeing  that  the 
young  man's  tone  had  made  others  look 
at  them. 

"  Will  you  ? "  he  persisted  with  his 
face  still  nearer  hers ;  perhaps  to  speak 
more  softly,  as  she  desired. 

The  young  girl  answered  him  not  a 


49 

word,  but  her  dark  eyes  looked  into  his, 
until,  as  they  dropped,  his  whole  face 
beamed  with  smiles. 

11  I'll  do  it,  Wasu,"  he  said.  I'll  ask 
Mr.  Sayre  to-morrow.  Nobody'll  work 
harder  than  I  shall.  I'll  hurry  up,  too. 
You'll  be  ready  when  I  am?" 

"  I'll  learn  to  cook  well  first,"  returned 
the  girl,  using  the  first  excuse  that  of- 
fered itself  to  her  for  maidenly  delay. 

"  What  for?"  questioned  the  other. 

She  laughed.  "  Don't  you  like  a 
good  dinner,  Chekotoco,  like  what  you 
used  to  have  at  school  ? " 

"  Yes.     But  I  like  you  better." 

She  laughed  again.  "Wait  awhile, 
and  perhaps  you  get  both,"  she  said 
softly. 

And  if  in  the  twilight  dimness  their 
hands  met,  and  when  she  went  to  the 
door  with  him  to  say  good  night,  their 
lips,  what  would  a  white  girl  have  done 
differently?  Mr.  Sayre  who  saw  many 
things  which  he  did  not  look  at  found  in 


50 

it  nothing  amiss  and  was  quite  ready  for 
the  coming  interview  with  one  of  the 
brightest  and  most  difficult  young  men 
upon  the  reservation,  Chekotoco. 

For,  the  son  of  the  chief  inherited 
some  of  his  father's  qualities,  pride  and 
indolence  among  them,  and  his  whole 
character  was  wavering  between  the 
good  and  the  evil.  To  turn  the  scale  to 
the  good  Sayre  trusted  much  to  the  aid 
of  the  gentle  girl  whom  the  young  man 
was  seeking  as  his  wife.  With  her  upon 
his  side,  the  white  man  felt  himself 
strong. 

As  he  watched  them  now,  he  repeated 
to  himself,  "  Time  and  sticking  to  it." 
And  already,  he  saw  wider  results  in  the 
future.  He  had  plans  for  many  Indians, 
and  these  varied  according  to  their  abil- 
ities. For  Samoso  whose  white  name 
was  Will  Rawson,  the  boy  who  had  gone 
away  to  school  when  Chekotoco  did  and 
had  returned  at  the  same  time,  the  place 
was  here  ;  he  would  never  be  more  than 


a  farmer  and  would  achieve  success  if  he 
attained  to  this.  But  for  Chekotoco 
there  must  be  a  different  fate  ;  he  had  a  ; 
clear  head  and  a  fluent  tongue  and  at  his 
best  moments  a  worthy  ambition.  Once 
away  from  the  tribe  in  a  home  of  his 
own  with  Wasu's  influence  added  to 
Hutchins'  and  the  superintendent's,  this 
wavering  ambition  might  be  steadied 
and  he  might  go  out  into  the  world  and 
earn  a  good  living  and  make  himself  a 
fair  reputation,  as  well  as  becoming  a 
shining  example  of  the  use  of  educating 
Indians.  With  Chekotoco  it  was  not  a 
question  of  "could  be,"  but  of  "would 
be."  Already  Sayre  had  made  mention 
of  him  to  his  friends  and  the  friends  of 
the  cause  who  were  ready  to  open  a 
place  for  him.  For  Sayre  felt  that  with 
his  personal  force  and  the  influences 
which  he  could  command,  he  should  be 
successful. 

There  were  others  also,  one  boy  an 
artist  born,  Sayre  was  sure.     He  would 


52 

need  encouragement  to  push  out  among 
people  of  a  race  whose  doubt  of  his  own 
he  had  so  often  been  made  to  feel ;  but 
with  this  he  would  do  well.  There 
were  girls,  too,  whose  worth  his  wife 
knew  best  about  and  whom  she  meant 
to  save  from  the  terrible  life  before 
them. 

Hutchins  had  his  favorites  as  well. 
These  three,  with  Mrs.  Hutchins,  and 
the  missionary  and  his  wife,  often  talked 
things  over  together.  For  upon  this 
reservation  authority,  knowledge  and 
gospel  had  united  their  strength  in  a 
threefold  effort,  by  which,  as  on  a  cable, 
the  wrecked  lives  of  these  young  people, 
and  in  some  cases  of  the  older  ones, 
were  being  run  in  from  the  breakers. 

But  that  very  evening  while  Sayre's 
head  was  full  of  plans  and  his  heart  of 
hope,  there  came  on  and  on  splashing 
through  the  mud  the  feet  of  the  horses 
bringing  the  man  in  whose  hand  was  the 
word  to  cut  two  strong  strands  of  this 


53 

triple  cord  of  safety  to  the  ship- 
wrecked. 

In  the  churches  all  over  the  land 
dimes  and  dollars  are  dropping  into  the 
home  mission  boxes,  and  from  every 
pulpit  prayers  are  offered  up  for  the 
blessing  of  the  work  among  our  heathen. 

But  the  Indian  reservations  are  well 
out  of  sight,  —  or  they  would  not  exist 
for  a  day  longer,  —  civil  service  in  In- 
dian affairs,  as  in  others,  is  our  Sabbath 
prayer  which  our  weekday  votes  have 
not  vitalized. 

And  so,  on  splashed  the  horses'  feet 
along  the  muddy  road  until  they  came  to 
the  end  of  the  journey,  and  Sayre  look- 
ing up  as  he  heard  bustle  at  the  door, 
stood  face  to  face  with  Inspector 
Noseby. 


III. 

kOME  presences  make  them- 
selves immediately  felt  in  a 
room.  Inspector  Noseby's 
was  one  of  these.  The 
effect  was  as  if  the  wheels  of  a  machine 
running  on  time  slackened  a  little. 

The  Indians  looked  at  his  open,  jovial 
face,  fair  and  flushed,  and  read  there  the 
license  that  gave  to  their  laugh  that 
touch  of  lawlessness  which  it  had  not 
needed  for  mirth;  none  knew  better 
than  Sayre  how  to  make  them  gay  and 
happy  without  the  aftertaste  of  riot. 
Now  they  looked  at  one  another  and  ex- 
changed smiles ;  not  all  of  them,  how- 
ever, for  although  Minnie,  one  of  the 
older  girls,  fingered  her  bow  with  a  new 
coquetry  as  he  nodded  to  her,  Ruth,  the 


55 

prettiest  girl  in  the  school,  edged  close 
to  Mrs.  Sayre  as  he  approached  and 
answered  his  affable  inquiries  not  at  all, 
but  stood  with  downcast  eyes  and  nerv- 
ous fingers  running  gathers  in  her 
apron.  The  inspector  with  a  keen 
glance  remarked  that  that  girl  wasn't 
advanced  with  her  English;  and  the 
superintendent's  wife  did  not  undeceive 
him,  if  he  were  deceived,  but  answered 
the  comment  by  opening  another  subject. 

He  seemed  to  get  on  admirably,  how- 
ever, with  Miss  Linckley,  the  new 
teacher  sent  to  the  reservation  a  few 
months  before ;  they  had  a  good  half 
hour's  chat  together  and  he  returned 
the  excellent  points  she  gave  him  by 
compliments  not  less  welcome. 

But  of  all  the  people  whom  he  met 
that  evening  he  enjoyed  Pow-watz  the 
best.  The  last  thing  that  he  said  to 
himself  that  night  was  his  chuckle,  "  I 
must  have  a  talk  on  Indian  affairs  with 
that  Indian. 


56 

It  was  early  the  next  morning  that 
Noseby  marched  into  the  superintend- 
ent's office  with  a  great  bundle  of  papers 
under  his  arm.  He  had  just  been  to 
the  agent's  upon  the  same  errand. 

"A  little  more  work  for  you,  Sayre," 
he  began  after  a  half  contemptuous 
greeting.  "  We're  going  to  have  things 
mighty  ship- shape  in  the  Washington 
office ;  we  Ve  got  to  know  more  about 
these  out-of-the-way  places ;  have  n't 
had  evidence  enough  lately  of  what's 
going  on." 

''What  are  you  down  here  for,  if  not 
to  find  out  what 's  going  on  ?  "  retorted 
Sayre  rising  and  facing  the  other.  Size 
and  authority  were  both  on  one  side, 
but  it  needed  not  the  little,  dark  man's 
haughty  indignation  to  prove  which  was 
the  more  formidable  in  open  fight. 
"You  want  evidence,  you  say?"  Sayre 
went  on  as  the  eyes  of  the  other  wavered 
before  his  gaze.  "  Look  about  you, 
and  find  it.  Hutchins  and  I'd  be  proud 


57 

to  have  you.  But  how  can  I  attend  to 
these  papers  this  morning  when  my 
boys  are  just  going  to  begin  a  new  piece 
of  work,  and  I  Ve  got  to  go  with  'em 
and  start  'em  ?  " 

"  That 's  the  farmer's  business,"  re- 
torted Noseby. 

"  Not  for  my  school  boys,"  answered 
the  other  with  the  suspicion  of  a  smile 
that  Noseby  gave  him  full  credit  for. 
"And,  besides,  he's  twenty  miles  away 
attending  to  his  other  business,  which  is 
enough  for  three  men.  Of  course,  I  '11 
do  the  things;  I  must;  but  I  must 
choose  my  time  for  it  and  get  it  in  when 
it  won't  interfere  with  what  I  'm  here  for, 
to  teach  the  Indians  civilization." 

Then  his  eyes  fell  upon  the  group 
seen  from  the  window.  For  there  stood 
upon  the  piazza  of  the  building  a  dozen 
stalwart  young  Indians,  Chekotoco 
among  them,  talking  and  laughing  as 
they  waited  for  their  day's  task  to  be  set 
them.  And  as  he  looked,  that  loving 


58 

pride  in  his  work  which  is  always  a 
worker's  highest  incentive  and  his  best 
reward  filled  his  heart,  until  the  frown 
left  his  face  and  pleasure  glowed  there 
instead. 

"Every  one  of  these  fellows  is  re- 
claimed from  the  blanket,"  he  went  on, 
his  need  of  sympathy  making  him  for 
the  moment  forget  his  dislike  of  his 
listener.  "  I  tell  my  wife  it  needs  just 
time  and  sticking  to  it.  But,  Nose- 
by,  'twill  take  a  sight  more  of  the  results 
of  civilization  than  we  Ve  got  down  here 
to  make  the  Indians  convinced  it's  a 
good  thing.  They're  a  pretty  shrewd 
set  of  fellows.  That  newspaper  story 
that's  been  going  the  rounds  sizes  'em 
well.  One  of  these  Indian  fellows,  I 
forget  from  where,  was  being  taken  the 
rounds  of  Washington,  and  somebody 
asked  him  if  they  would  build  him  a 
house,  if  he  would  live  in  it?  He 
waved  his  hand  at  one  of  the  finest,  and 
answered,  "  If  you  build  me  one  like 


59 

that,  I  will ! '  Ambition  's  buried  pretty 
deep,  but  give  the  young  ones  a  little  of 
of  the  sunshine  of  civilization,  and  'twill 
spring  up,  there  's  no  doubt  of  it." 

It  was  here  that  Noseby  vowed  his 
deepest  that  they  should  never  have  any 
of  this  sunshine. 

As  Sayre  turned  back  from  the  win- 
dow, Nosby  was  pointing  to  the  pile  of 
papers,  Government  work  for  him. 
"These  are  to  be  done  immediately," 
was  the  inspector's  only  answer  to 
Sayre's  enthusiasm. 

"Are  those  the  orders?" 

"  Yes,  they're  your  orders,  sir.  And 
I'm  here  to  see  that  you  obey  them." 

Sayre's  eyes  flashed.  "That's  not 
necessary,"  he  answered.  "  I'll  tell 
the  boys."  He  went  out,  and  after  a 
word  with  the  leader,  returned  to  his 
office. 

Noseby  stood  silent  while  the  other 
opened  his  budget,  supplied  himself 
with  paper,  and  after  glancing  over  the 


6o 

first  list  of  questions,  took  up  his  pen 
and  began  to  write. 

"  I  s'pose  the  poor  Lo's  weren't  sorry 
for  a  holiday,"  the  inspector  broke  out 
with  a  laugh  as  he  watched  the  Indian 
boys  walking  off  into  the  distance. 

"  What  holiday  ?  "  questioned  Sayre 
turning  upon  him  sharply.  "  If  you 
mean  my  boys,  they've  gone  to  work  by 
themselves,  to  do  the  best  they  can ; 
and  they  will  do  it.  That's  better  than 
lounging,  by  a  long  chalk.  We  don't 
have  a  great  deal  of  that  round  here, 
Mr.  Noseby." 

"Um  !  "  was  that  gentleman's  sole  re- 
sponse. 

Sayre  wrote  on  without  lifting  his 
head,  until  at  the  inspector's  demand  he 
gave  orders  for  a  wagon  and  a  driver  to 
take  him  to  the  camps. 

After  Noseby  had  gone  out  Mrs. 
Sayre  came  into  the  office. 

"  Mr.  Hutchins  is  as  hard  at  it  as 
you,"  she  said.  "  Wasu  's  been  up 


6i 

there  on  errand  for  me,  and  she  told 
me." 

Her  husband  looked  up  contemptu- 
ously. "  All  to  get  us  out  of  the  way, 
to  let  him  carry  on  his  investigations," 
he  answered.  "  They  might  have  trusted 
us.  But  let  him  investigate  to  his 
heart's  content.  Hutchins  and  I  will 
only  be  the  better  off  the  more  of  it  he 
does." 

"  He's  talking  with  Wolfs  Teeth  now," 
announced  Mrs.  Sayre,  standing  at  the 
window. 

"  Oh,  is  he  ?  Well,  Mary,  he  couldn't 
get  hold  of  a  better  man  for  us,  could 
he?  "  And  the  superintendent  laughed. 

And  perhaps  it  was  for  this  very 
reason,  because  the  inspector  had  begun 
his  investigations  with  Wolfs  Teeth, 
that  Mrs.  Sayre  went  back  to  her  work 
with  a  smile  upon  her  face  and  her  hus- 
band returned  to  his  writing  with  a  soft- 
ened remembrance  of  the  irritation  that 
the  visitor's  presence  had  aroused. 


62 

Meanwhile,  Noseby  was  interviewing 
Wolfs  Teeth  with  so  much  interest  that 
the  horses  ordered  for  his  excursion 
stood  stamping  at  the  door  for  a  good 
half  hour  while  the  inspector  lolled  on 
the  grass  in  the  shadow  of  the  store- 
house a  dozen  rods  away  and  listened  to 
the  Indian,  with  a  question  thrown  in 
now  and  then  for  which  he  took  from 
his  lips  the  cigar  at  which  he  was  puffing 
vigorously.  It  was  an  excellent  one 
and  very  fragrant  in  the  nostrils  of 
Wolf's  Teeth  whom  Sayre  had  at  last 
succeeded  in  convincing  that  cigarettes 
were  "  no  good"  for  the  health  and  very 
bad  for  the  pocket. 

Noseby  narrowed  his  eyes  as  he 
listened  to  the  Indian's  story,  and  at  last 
took  out  his  notebook  and  jotted  down  a 
a  few  comments.  "  I'll  tell  the  great 
father  at  Washington  what  you  say 
about  him,"  he  explained  in  answer  to 
the  Indian's  glance  of  suspicion. 

Wolf's  Teeth  was  well  satisfied  to  have 


63 

his  account  of  the  little  dark  man  go 
forth  to  the  authorities  ;  for  they  could 
reward  him  as  he  ought  to  be  rewarded. 
He  nodded,  grunted,  and  went  on. 

"  He  like  my  own  brother  to  me,"  he 
said ;  "  he  mean  white  man  and  red  man 
all  the  same.  I  be  dead  man  if  not  for 
him." 

"Tell  me  all  about  it,"  urged  Noseby 
poising  his  cigar  between  his  fingers 
and  replacing  it.  "  But  have  a  cigar, 
won't  you  ?  "  he  added  ;  and  taking  out 
his  case,  held  it  to  his  companion.  "  Try 
one,"  he  repeated. 

The  Indian  hesitated.  "  Mr.  Sayre  tell 
me  not  to  smoke,"  he  returned.  And 
he  gave  his  reasons. 

The  other  laughed.  "  But  cigarettes 
are  different,"  he  said.  "  And  they're 
not  so  bad,  after  all.  Lots  of  white 
people  smoke  'em.  I  do  myself  some- 
times." 

"So?"  returned  the  Indian  in  a  tone 
of  surprise  and  satisfaction. 


64 

Noseby  laughed  again. 

"And  then,  this  won't  make  you 
poorer,  because  I  pay  for  it,"  he  went 
on.  "  You'll  be  so  much  in.  Under- 
stand me?" 

And  the  fair,  flushed,  smiling  face  of 
the  representative  of  civilization  and  the 
dark,  questioning  face  of  the  representa- 
tive of  barbarism  outreaching  toward 
civilization  looked  into  each  other.  The 
inspector  was  a  younger  man  than  the 
Indian,  he  could  not  have  been  forty, 
but  the  knowledge  of  men  and  affairs 
which  shone  out  from  his  eyes  into  those 
of  his  questioner  was  an  ignis  fatuus 
which  lighted  up  the  way  of  temptation 
as  if  it  were  the  very  short  cut  into  the 
white  man's  road. 

The  Indian,  still  hesitating,  gazed, 
smiled,  laughed,  stretched  out  his  hand. 

His  fingers  closed  over  the  coveted 
weed. 

Noseby  smiling  with  a  dark  exulta- 
tion, furnished  him  with  a  light.  The 


65 

Indian  took  a  few  puffs  at  the  cigar 
with  intense  enjoyment. 

And  then  the  result  of  months  of 
labor  had  gone  up  in  a  whiff  of  smoke. 

"  Ya,"  he  resumed,  "  Mr.  Sayre  treat 
me  like  his  own  brother.  I  have  mules ; 
I  do  carting ;  I  get  money.  Last  winter 
the  roads  too  bad,  no  teams  go  then. 
Mr.  Sayre  say,  '  I  give  you  work  like 
white  man,  Wolf's  Teeth.  You  saw 
wood,  you  split  it,  you  make  great  pile 
right  where  I  tell  you ;  I  pay  you  ;  that 
give  you  money.'  So,  I  work.  I  made 
like  white  man  ;  I  like  money." 

"  But  one  day  such  a  pain.  A  nail 
run  up  into  this  foot.  I  go  home.  I 
go  to  bed.  Pow-watz,  our  medicine 
man,  he  come ;  he  enchant  the  place. 
Then  Mr.  Sayre  he  find  out.  He  say 
enchantment  not  enough.  Mr.  Sayre 
know  everything.  So,  the  doctor  put 
on  something  good ;  pull  the  pain  right 
out." 

"  Then    Pow-watz    come    back.      He 


66 

say  to  me,  '  Bad  Indian !  It  not  white 
doctor,  it  my  enchantment  pull  out  the 
pain.  Take  off  that  stuff.'  And  he 
take  off  the  stuff.  It  hurt  more. 
But  Pow-watz  say  that  because  I  dis- 
obey him,  that  make  it  hurt.  Next  day 
the  doctor  come.  He  so  mad.  He  put 
on  new  stuff,  and  he  order  me,  '  Let  it 
alone.'  And  he  give  me  medicine. 
He  say, '  Now  you  sleep,  you  feel  better. 
Mind  me.'  I  feel  better ;  I  sleep ;  I 
mind  him." 

Here  Wolf's  Teeth  closed  his  eyes 
with  an  air  of  satisfaction  as  if  recalling 
his  interval  of  rest.  Then  looking  at 
Noseby,  he  went  on  with  his  story. 

"Then  Pow-watz,  he  come,"  he  said, 
"and  heap  Indians  with  him.  He  say, 
'/  make  you  sleep ;  that  medicine  not  do 
it ;  that  no  good ! '  And  Wasu  come  to 
see  me, — she  my  little  daughter  lives 
with  Mrs.  Sayre  and  goes  to  school ;  she 
try  to  keep  the  medicine.  Pow-watz 
and  the  other  Indians,  they  get  it  from 


her ;  they  frighten  her ;  they  throw  it 
away.  They  take  the  stuff  off  my  foot 
again  and  they  make  their  magic  to 
make  me  well.  Then  they  go  away  and 
say  I  get  well." 

"  But  my  eyes  open  all  the  way,  and 
my  foot  so  bad,  it  all  purple  up  to  here." 
And  he  touched  his  leg  above  the  knee. 
"  The  doctor  so  angry  he  never  come 
any  more.  He  say,  'What  use?'  Pow- 
watz  say  I  not  trust  to  him,  that's  the 
reason  I  get  worse.  The  doctor  say  I 
die  'cause  I  'm  a  fool.  And  that  so." 
And  Wolf's  Teeth  laughed  softly. 
"AndWasu  she  cry  and  cry,"  he  went 
on,  "and  her  mother  can't  comfort  her. 
She  run  home  to  Mrs.  Sayre.  And  Mr. 
Sayre  he  come  with  a  big  wagon,  and  he 
get  two  Indians  to  lift  me  in,  and  he 
drive  me  up  to  his  own  house,  and  he 
put  me  on  the  bed  in  his  good  room, 
and  he  say,  'You  stay  there,  Wolf's 
Teeth,  till  you  get  well.' " 

"And  the  doctor  never  come,  and  Mr. 


68 

Sayre  he  wouldn't  let  Pow-watz  come 
in,  not  a  single  Indian  come  in,  and 
every  day  he  wash  my  foot  himself  and 
put  on  something.  And  so,  here's  the 
dead  man,"  finished  Wolf 's  Teeth  with 
the  laugh  of  health.  "And  Mr.  Sayre, 
he  a  brother ;  he  take  up  sick  Indians 
by  the  roadside.  That's  the  kind  of 
white  man  Indians  like." 

"Yes,"  answered  the  inspector  throw- 
ing away  his  cigar  stump  and  rising. 
"  Some  Indians,  not  Pow-watz,"  he 
added  between  his  teeth.  He  thrust 
back  his  notebook  into  his  pocket.  He 
had  obtained  many  other  data  also  from 
Wolfs  Teeth,  sketches  of  Sayre  from  his 
first  coming  and  the  full  history  of  the 
encounter  at  the  well.  "  I  must  be 
going,"  he  said.  "  You  're  good  com- 
pany, Wolf's  Teeth.  Come  and  see  me 
again.  And  you  'd  better  take  two  or 
three  more  cigars;  they're  fine  ones." 

"  Yes,  they  fine  ones,"  returned  the 
Indian  pocketing  them  with  alacrity. 


69 

At  last  the  horses  were  off  for  the 
camps.  But  first  Noseby  had  strolled 
into  the  office,  and  found  the  superin- 
tendent as  busy  as  could  be  desired  and 
looking  somewhat  harassed  at  the  un- 
precedented demand  for  statistics. 

"Amusing  creature,  that  Wolf's 
Teeth,"  remarked  the  inspector. 

"Yes,"  returned  the  other  without 
looking  up. 

"  Swears  by  you,  you  know,"  con- 
tinued the  inspector.  "  Say,  now, 
Sayre,  that's  a  pretty  good  put-up  job, 
that  brotherly  devotion  dodge.  Had 
the  fellow  around  here  handy  to  be 
interviewed,  hey?  Well,  I've  done  it; 
so,  be  satisfied,  'n'  try  a  little  less  senti- 
ment next  time." 

Sayre  sprang  to  his  feet.  His  hands 
clenched  themselves  so  that  the  muscles 
stood  out  like  cords ;  the  great  vein  in 
his  forehead  throbbed  as  if  it  would 
burst.  Noseby  eyed  him  uneasily,  and 
drew  back  a  step.  It  was  the  last  time 


7Q 

that  he  jeered  openly  at  him  ;  whatever 
his  purpose,  during  the  remainder  of  his 
stay  he  kept  his  sarcasm  to  himself  or 
vented  it  upon  another  object  than  this 
man  with  the  stature  of  a  pigmy  and 
pluck  enough  for  a  general. 

"  O,  you  don't  take  to  chaff,  Sayre," 
he  volunteered  hastily.  "Twas  a  fine 
thing  to  do,  of  course." 

"  I  don't  want  praise,"  retorted  the 
other,  "  and  you  're  welcome  to  blame 
whatever  you  see  amiss.  But  don't  let 
me  hear  any  more  about  '  put-up  jobs.' 
We  don't  have  'em  round  here." 

Noseby's  laugh  as  he  went  out  lacked 
a  little  of  its  usual  fluency ;  but  to  atone 
for  this,  the  fire  in  his  eyes  was  more 
than  usually  smouldering  and  danger- 
ous, and  until  he  drew  up  at  the  Indian 
camps  he  in  no  way  resembled  the  jovial 
fellow  whose  expansive  good  humor  had 
overflowed  upon  all,  with  one  exception, 
ever  since  his  arrival.  At  sight  of  these 
camps,  however,  his  spirits  revived,  and 


if  there  was  an  added  sparkle  in  his 
eyes  as  he  sprang  down  from  the  wagon, 
it  came  from  the  triumph  of  finding  here 
what  he  wanted. 

Here  was  a  nest  of  tents,  and  their 
owners  were  all  abroad  in  the  sunny 
weather.  The  women  and  girls  looked 
shyly  at  the  stranger,  not  daring  to  lift 
their  downcast  heads. 

And  yet  he  was  not  out  of  hearing 
before  in  their  own  tongue  they  were 
commenting  upon  every  peculiarity  of 
face  and  dress  and  manner.  They  con- 
trasted his  fairness  with  the  color  of  the 
little,  dark  man,  and  decided  that  this 
stranger  was  more  of  a  white  man  than 
the  other. 

But  Noseby  had  little  thought  for 
their  comments  as  he  saw  before  him 
somewhat  apart  a  group  of  men  whom 
he  had  wanted  to  meet.  Queseo  and 
Pow-watz  left  these  to  greet  him.  They 
were  about  to  hold  a  council,  they  said. 
Would  the  white  messenger  of  the  great 


72 

father  at  Washington  join  them?  They 
were  trying  to  see  what  was  best  for 
their  people.  Surely,  he  in  his  wisdom 
would  know.  And  as  one  and  another 
strolled  up,  Pow-watz  introduced  his 
friends. 

Noseby  with  beaming  gravity  shook 
hands  all  around  and  took  his  place 
between  Queseo  and  Pow-watz  as  if  it 
were  the  one  thing  in  the  world  that  he 
enjoyed  most.  Possibly,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances it  was.  For  he  realized 
how  much  this  council  was  due  to  the 
few  words  that  had  passed  between  him- 
self and  the  medicine  man  the  evening 
before. 


IV. 


LOW-WATZ  turned  to  him 
with  a  satisfaction  that 
shone  through  all  his  dig- 
nity. 

On  the  way  home  from  the  school 
the  previous  evening  he  had  turned 
to  Queseo  as  they  drove  on. 

"  White  man  just  come  from  the 
father  at  Washington  quite  different 
from  the  little  chief  with  the  big  heart, 
Queseo,"  he  had  begun.  And  Queseo 
upon  whom  Noseby  had  also  beamed, 
had  assented  warmly.  "  He  talks  well, 
he's  a  great  man,"  Pow-watz  had  re- 
sumed. "It's  not  his  way  to  tell  us 
what  we  have  to  do,  like  the  other  one. 
He  asks  us  how  we  do;  if  we  are  well; 


74 

if  we  are  happy.  I  tell  him  the  Great 
Spirit  gives  us  all  some  sorrow.  Then 
he  says  he  's  come  to  make  us  happy ; 
he 's  glad  to  see  us  so  well.  I  say  the 
little  white  chief  with  the  big  heart 
make  us  all  well ;  he 's  medicine  man 
and  everything ;  he  knows  everything ; 
he  does  everything ;  he  orders  us  all,  we 
all  mind  what  he  says.  I  say  this  to 
him,  Queseo,  because  I  think  all  white 
men  the  same,  he'll  like  it." 

"That's  so,"  responded  the  chief  with 
assurance. 

But  Pow-watz  shook  his  head  and  his 
voice  took  on  a  new  impressiveness. 
"  I  said  that  to  him,"  he  resumed,  "and 
he  came  close  up  to  me,  Queseo,  and 
he  looked  at  me  one  minute  in  my  eyes, 
and  he  never  spoke  one  word ;  his  eyes, 
they  talk.  He  going  to  speak.  Then 
he  turn  his  head.  The  little  chief 
with  the  big  heart  just  behind  him,  not 
looking  yet.  Then  the  white  man  said 
to  me,  'Tell  me  all  about  it,  Pow-watz. 


75 

The  father  at  Washington  must  know 
everything.'  Then  he  looked  over  his 
shoulder  another  time.  The  little  chief 
almost  there.  Then  he  said  quick  down 
in  his  throat,  '  It 's  time  you  speak,  you 
and  the  others.'  Queseo,  when  I  hear 
that,  I  'm  medicine  man  once  more  as  in 
the  old  time ! '  " 

"  Good  news,  Pow-watz,  fine  news," 
cried  his  listener. 

"  Then,"  Pow-watz  went  on,  "  the  lit- 
tle chief  came  up,  and  the  white  man 
was  laughing  at  me.  "  You  learn  Eng- 
lish better,  Pow-watz,  he  was  saying  to 
me ;  I  can't  understand  you.'  And  he 
kept  on  looking  at  me,  and  he  smiled 
and  smiled,  and  the  little  white  chief 
was  seeing  us  smile,  —  he  sees  every- 
thing, —  he  looked  straight  through  me, 
I  think  he  would  drag  out  the  words  the 
white  man  said.  But  when  he  turned 
to  the  white  man,  he's  not  looking ;  he's 
gone  off,  he  laughs  with  somebody  else. 
I  learn  that  way,  too,  Queseo.  That's 


76 

the  white  man's  way.  And  I'll  be  better 
Indian  medicine  man." 

Surely,  Pow-watz  was  in  no  danger 
of  improving  his  English,  if  he  habitu- 
ally talked  in  the  fluent  Indian  he  was 
using  now. 

"  I  don't  know  what  it  means,"  Que- 
seo  had  returned. 

And  Pow-watz  with  the  voice  of  an 
oracle  had  declared  that  it  meant  that 
white  men  were  like  Indians  and  did 
not  all  think  alike,  and,  further,  that  it 
meant  that  the  big  white  man  didn't  like 
the  little  white  chief.  "  Then,  what 
does  it  matter  if  he  have  big  heart  ?  "  he 
pursued.  "  The  white  man  have  big- 
ger. He  ask  us  to  tell  him  everything, 
Oueseo.  We  tell  him." 

And  Pow-watz'  chuckle  had  singularly 
resembled  the  one  with  which  Noseby 
himself  had  gone  to  sleep  that  night. 

So,  it  had  come  about  that  the  coun- 
cil was  ready  for  the  inspector  when  he 
arrived,  and  would  have  been  ready  had 


77 

he  come  at  any  day  or  hour,  it  being 
perfectly  able  to  hold  over  until  such 
time  as  it  was  needed. 

But  Pow-watz  had  not  been  medicine 
man  and  Queseo  chief,  any  more  than 
Noseby  had  been  politician,  all  these 
years  for  nothing ;  the  tactics  were  iden- 
tical. There  was  not  a  good  Indian 
upon  the  reservation  who  did  not  hold 
the  agent  and  the  little  chief  with  the 
big  heart  in  honor,  and  there  were  some 
honest  Indians  in  this  council ;  it  not 
only  would  have  been  impossible  for 
Pow-watz  to  keep  them  out  without 
creating  suspicion,  but,  being  unques- 
tionably the  respectable  part  of  the  com- 
munity, they  gave  the  council  a  flavor 
of  respectability  which  was  not  lost 
upon  Pow-watz  any  more  than  if  he  had 
been  white.  And  if  these  Indians  be- 
lieved in  the  white  man,  did  they  not 
also  believe  in  himself  and  in  Queseo  ? 

They  should  continue  to  do  so. 

The  council  opened  by  a  florid  speech 


7* 

from  Queseo  reported  to  Noseby  through 
the  interpreter.  The  chief's  English  was 
good  enough  to  be  intelligible,  but  he 
would  by  no  means  have  allowed  him- 
self such  diminution  of  his  dignity  as  to 
utter  an  English  word  when  the  great 
father  was  paying  somebody  to  utter  it 
for  him. 

The  white  man  responded  by  assur- 
ances of  his  regard,  his  power  and  his 
desire  to  make  the  Indians  as  happy  as 
possible,  and  in  especial,  his  readiness 
to  listen  attentively  to  all  that  related  to 
them  and  their  affairs.  He  was  here  to 
find  out  how  matters  were  going  on  be- 
tween them  and  the  white  men,  he  had 
come  to  hear  and  to  judge  ;  he  had  the 
power  to  decide  and  the  will  to  make 
them  happy ;  all  things  seemed  so  good, 
he  hoped  that  under  it  they  had  no 
cause  for  complaint ;  but  if  so,  let  them 
tell  him  fully  everything." 

"  Ya,  it  all  good.  The  little  chief 
with  the  big  heart,  he  make  us  work," 


79 

laughed  Wahbotz  giving  an  account  of 
their  wood  cutting.  That's  good  for  us ; 
we  get  money ;  so  we  quite  white  men 
now." 

Noseby  nodded. 

Story  after  story  came  to  him  illus- 
trating the  labors  of  these  civilizers  of 
the  Indian.  He  found  that  there  had 
been  no  lack  of  needed  sternness,  but 
not  one  instance  of  severity,  and  many 
instances  of  a  care  that  bordered  upon 
tenderness  which  he  was  utterly 
unable  to  comprehend  and  looked  upon 
as  the  veriest  balderdash.  But  it  was 
plain  that  the  men  had  done  wonders 
considering  the  adverse  conditions  that 
reign  upon  all  Indian  reservations. 

He  was  no  politician,  however,  if  he 
could  not  make  one  fact  serve  his  pur- 
pose as  well  as  another. 

"  No  more  dances,"  explained  Accow- 
vootz.  "  The  white  man  say  dances 
bad,  they  break  us  all  up." 

Noseby's  eyes  began  to  dance.     He 


8o 

looked  his  man  up  and  down  with  gath- 
ering merriment,  then  he  took  his  cigar 
from  his  mouth  and  laughed  aloud. 

The  Indians  who  had  all  been  sup- 
plied from  a  box  of  cigars  which  the  in- 
spector had  brought  with  him,  not  equal 
to  those  offered  Wolf's  Teeth  which  had 
been  bought  for  his  own  use,  but  still, 
fair,  as  his  experienced  taste  was  assur- 
ing him  at  the  moment,  —  looked  with 
astonishment  at  the  white  man  who 
laughed  and  laughed,  and  slapped  his 
knee  and  laughed  again  in  the  teeth  of 
a  command  of  their  little  chief  with  the 
big  heart.  But  if  the  taste  of  his  smoke 
was  so  good,  why  should  not  the  taste  of 
his  mirth  be  also  ?  Half  wonderingly  at 
first,  and  then  with  relish  they  joined  in 
the  laugh,  and  awaited  what  was  to 
follow. 

"  Did  you  ever  ask  your  little  white 
chief,  as  you  call  him,  if  he  didn't  dance 
himself? "  asked  Noseby  as  soon  as  he 
found  his  voice.  "  Dancing's  no  harm," 


8i 

he  pursued.  "  Lots  of  white  people  do 
it,  good  people.  Why,  I  do  it  myself. 
And,  now  I  think  of  it,  I've  never  seen  a 
first-class  Indian  dance.  Can't  you  get 
me  up  one?  —  And  I'll  write  out  a  de- 
scription of  it  for  the  Smithsonian,  or  the 
newspapers,"  he  interjected,  though  not 
aloud,  "  and  turn  an  honest  penny  on  it. 
—  Can't  you  now,  my  friends?"  he  re- 
peated. 

Every  face  lighted  with  sudden  pleas- 
ure, and  then  as  suddenly  clouded. 

"  The  little  white  chief  and  Mr. 
Hutchins,  they  say  'no',"  returned  Ac- 
cowvootz. 

Noseby's  side  glances  showed  him 
Pow-watz  and  Queseo  waiting  with  in- 
tentness  for  his  answer.  An  air  of  con- 
fidence in  them  struck  him  in  contrast 
to  the  doubt  of  the  others  what  it  was 
possible  for  him  to  do  in  the  face  of  this 
prohibition.  His  acumen,  then,  had  not 
deceived  him  ;  it  seldom  did.  He  was 
not  playing  a  losing  game. 


82 

He  uttered  a  contemptuous  laugh. 

"Nobody '11  say  'no'  when  I  say 
'  yes,' "  he  returned. 

"  That's  so,"  cried  one  and  another. 

The  two  Indian  leaders  exchanged 
glances. 

"  Yes,  that's  so,"  echoed  the  inspector 
taking  his  cigar  from  his  mouth  to  em- 
phasize his  statement.  "  Now,  how 
soon  can  you  have  it  ?  And,  mind,  I 
want  a  good,  rousing  one,  none  of  your 
make-believes." 

"We  have  it  in  three  days,"  responded 
Pow-watz. 

And,  so,  a  practice  which  meant  a  return 
to  the  barbarous  customs  against  which 
the  agent  and  the  superintendent  had 
been  fighting  for  years  was  reestablished. 
For,  as  well  tempt  a  drunkard  trying  to 
reform  with  a  glass  of  whiskey  as  a 
reservation  Indian  who  has  set  his  foot 
upon  the  white  man's  road  with  an  Indian 
dance.  It  brings  back  old  tastes,  old 
delights  with  redoubled  strength. 


But  what  would  this  weigh  against 
Noseby's  curiosity,  or  his  self-interest? 
Indeed,  it  was  only  another  means  of 
accomplishing  his  deeper  purpose  in 
which  so  many  politicians  were  working 
with  him,  to  do  things  by  halves  and  so 
keep  them  along  to  offer  convenient 
occupation  for  many  a  political  hench- 
man hard  to  dispose  of  otherwise,  and 
sometimes  ill-fitted  for  more  conspicu- 
ous posts. 

As  they  were  discussing  this  dance, 
the  inspector  took  occasion  to  remark  in 
connection  with  it  that  Mr.  Sayre 
needn't  try  to  do  more  than  his  own 
work,  he  had  plenty  of  that. 

Pow-watz'  wrinkles  showed  deeper 
and  whiter  than  ever. 

"  He  do  medicine  man's  work;  he  do 
all  the  work,"  he  answered  with  deep 
inflection. 

And  Noseby  learned  the  other  side  of 
Wolf's  Teeth's  story. 

He  nodded  sagaciously  at  the  recital. 


84 

"That's  not  the  way  to  do,"  he  asserted 
to  Pow-watz.  He  added  that  he  could 
not  say  more  now ;  but  he  assured  the 
Indians  that  in  future  their  feelings 
should  be  considered.  Unquestionably, 
the  reservations  belonged  to  them. 
They  had  rights, — yes,  indeed!  He 
would  look  after  these  and  do  his  best 
to  make  them  happy.  They  must  be 
discreet,  but  they  might  trust  him. 

So,  the  progressive  Indians  who  were 
not  yet  progressive  enough  to  withstand 
the  dance  when  invited  to  it  by  the 
white  man  in  authority  and  yet  who 
believed  in  Sayre  and  Hutchins  with  all 
their  hearts,  and  the  Indian  Indians  who 
wanted  nothing  but  the  re-establishment 
of  their  old  rule  of  barbarism  and  who 
saw  here  the  promise  and  the  potency 
of  this,  alike  nodded  their  satisfaction. 

The  former,  however,  comprehended 
nothing  of  the  inspector's  meaning 
further  than  a  taste  of  their,  old  amuse- 
ment. But  the  latter  rose  up  from  the 


85 

conference  with  so  assured  a  stride  and 
eyes  so  full  of  malicious  delight  that 
they  must  already  have  tasted  of  their 
victory. 

It  was  that  very  evening  that  Wolf's 
Teeth  with  Indian  facility  for  gathering 
and  distributing  news  learned  of  this 
council  and  commented  upon  it  to  the 
superintendent. 

"  Queseo  and  Pow-watz,  they  grown 
whole  foot  taller,"  he  announced. 
"They  going  to  have  a  war  dance  next 
week.  The  new  white  man,  he  order  it. 
It  must  be  they  got  some  white  man's 
scalp,  somehow,"  he  mused. 

A  chill  ran  through  Sayre.  He  felt  a 
hidden  significance  in  the  words.  Was 
there  to  be  really  a  white  man's  scalp, 
and  that  scalp  his  own,  in  the  dance 
which  the  white  man  had  instigated? 
Were  all  these  investigations  going  on 
from  hour  to  hour  about  things  trivial  to 
puerility,  all  these  questions  that  seemed 


86 

asked  to  perplex  rather  than  to  arrive  at 
facts,  all  these  demands  for  increased 
work  of  a  nature  that  diverted  from 
what  he  considered  the  real  work,  all 
these  confabs  with  different  Indians, 
chiefly  with  the  disaffected  ones,  tend- 
ing to  one  end  ? 

The  agent  looked  in  that  evening. 
Sayre  put  the  question  to  him. 
"  Hutchins,"  he  said,  "what  do  you 
think  ?  Are  they  after  our  scalps  ?  Is 
the  political  tomahawk  heaved  up  for 
our  benefit  ?  " 

"  Looks  mighty  like  it  in  some  ways," 
returned  the  other.  "  The  fellow's  set- 
ting everything  topsy  turvy  and  undo- 
ing our  best  work.  I  shouldn't  have 
said  'twas  possible  to  get  through  so 
much  mischief  in  twenty  four  hours. 
I'd  like  to  know  what  it  means." 

There  fell  a  silence  between  the  two 
which  Sayre  broke  by  saying,  "  I've 
never  had  any  difficulty  in  earning  my 
living,  and  it  would  go  hard  with  me  if 


8? 

I  couldn't  get  a  better  one  somewhere 
else.  And,  then,  my  children  will  have 
to  be  sent  away  to  school  soon,  and  it's 
a  dog's  life  as  to  work.  And  yet, 
Hutchins,  there's  more  than  that  in  it. 
This  work  gets  a  hold  on  one.  I  s'pose 
in  one  way  it's  the  best  work  that's 
given  to  a  man  to  try  to  level  up  his 
fellows.  But  whatever  the  reason  is, 
'twould  be  an  awful  tug  to  pull  out  of 
it.  But  if  somebody  came  who  'd  do  it 
better,  or  as  well,  I'd  be  willing.  But  it 
doesn't  look  that  way." 

Hutchins  uttered  something  that  was 
meant  for  a  laugh  and  turned  out  nearer 
a  groan. 

"  Politically,  Sayre,  these  Indians  are 
carrion  to  vultures,"  he  answered. 

"  And  then,  what  would  our  good  fel- 
lows do  if  Queseo  and  Pow-watz  should 
be  allowed  to  get  on  the  top  and 
crow  ?  "  asked  Sayre. 

"  Looks  as  if  that  was  what  they're 
going  to  do  now,"  said  the  other. 


88 

"  Never !  Wait  till  that  fellow  clears 
out,  and  as  long  's  my  head's  on  my 
shoulders,  up  to  the  very  last  minute, 
my  foot  's  on  neck  of  Indian  tyranny." 

The  little,  dark  man  had  sprung  up 
in  his  earnestness,  and  one  who  did  not 
know  him  looking  into  his  set  face  and 
flashing  eyes,  would  yet  have  been  sure 
of  his  ability  to  make  his  word  good. 
Suddenly,  he  turned  to  his  friend  with  a 
smile  of  rare  sweetness. 

"  You  won't  think  I'm  intending  to 
usurp  your  functions,  Hutchins?" 

The  agent  laughed.  "  That's  the  last 
thing  we  shall  quarrel  over,  Sayre,  as 
long's  the  work's  done,"  he  answered. 
"  At  any  rate,"  he  added  after  a  pause, 
"  Noseby  can't  complain  of  our  idle- 
ness." 

And  then  these  two  men  who  were 
not  deeply  engrossed  by  their  personal 
affairs  passed  on  to  the  discussion  of 
the  details  of  their  work,  and,  especially, 
of  how  they  should  cope  with  the  spirit 


of  disorder  following  in  the  wake  of  the 
inspector. 

The  inspector  had  finished  his  tour  of 
investigation  which  ended  soon  after  his 
visit  to  this  reservation,  when  one  morn- 
ing he  presented  himself  at  the  door  of 
Senator  Intrigue's  fine  residence  in 
Washington. 

"  The  senator's  too  busy  to  see  any- 
body," announced  his  secretary.  "  He's 
preparing  his  great  speech  on  '  Political 
Reform.' " 

A  broad  smile  overspread  Noseby's 
countenance.  "  Ah !  indeed,"  he  said. 
"That's  good.  But  you'll  do  me  the 
kindness  to  take  him  this  at  once." 
And  he  handed  his  card. 

"He  gave  strict  orders  that  he  would 
see  no  one,"  responded  the  other  posi- 
tively. 

"  Young  man,  you'll  take  that  card  to 
him  at  once,"  returned  the  visitor  with  a 
threatening  air.  "  And  be  quick ;  it's 


9o 

business  of  importance.  It's  his  busi- 
ness, not  the  state's,  blockhead." 

"  O,  I  see,  sir.     Excuse  me." 

And  the  secretary  disappeared,  to  re- 
turn again  almost  immediately.  "Walk 
this  way  if  you  please,  sir,"  he  said  def- 
erentially. 

And  he  guided  the  inspector  through 
the  fine  hall,  up  the  stairs  where  they 
trod  on  velvet  and  past  beautiful  and 
costly  pictures  and  carved  furniture  that 
the  veriest  boor  would  have  found  mag- 
nificent. The  man  as  he  went  on  had 
time  to  vow  that  the  day  should  come 
when  trappings  like  these  should  be  his 
own  also,  and  that  petty  obstacles,  like 
honor  and  conscience,  should  not  stand 
in  the  way.  The  very  sight  of  the  lux- 
ury made  him  tingle  and  gave  new  stim- 
ulus to  his  greed  which  had  not  needed 
this. 

Then  he  was  ushered  into  the  pres- 
ence of  the  senator  who  was  in  the 
midst  of  his  sentence  declaring  that  the 


interests  of  the  country  which  contained 
sixty  four  million  souls  clad  in  flesh 
should  be  paramount  to  every  party 
purpose  —  of  the  other  side. 

"Ah,  well,  Noseby,  here  you  are. 
Glad  to  see  you.  Sit  down." 

And  Intrigue  without  rising  laid  down 
his  pen  and  waited  for  the  secretary  to 
withdraw,  which  he  did  immediately  and 
noiselessly. 

And  then  the  senator  and  the  in- 
spector sat  a  few  moments  looking 
steadily  at  each  other  in  silence. 

"Well,  how  have  you  sped?"  asked 
the  former  finally. 

Noseby's  fair  face  glowed  darkly  with 
triumphant  malice. 

"  Would  you  like  to  hear  a  few  extracts 
from  my  report  before  it's  given  in  ?  "  he 
demanded. 

The  other  nodded.  The  two  men 
smiled  at  each  other  a  moment,  and 
Noseby  drew  forth  his  note  book. 


V. 


TAKE  nothing  at  second 
hand  which  I  can  possibly 
investigate  for  myself,"  be- 
gan the  inspector  reading 
carefully  from  his  papers,  "and  so  I  can 
claim  for  my  report  that  it  is  absolutely 

reliable.      In    the    case    of    the 

reservation  I  found  reason  to  suspect 
that  matters  were  not  quite  as  we  could 
wish,' — how's  that  senator?"  And  he 
nodded  with  a  smile  at  Intrigue  who 
nodded  back  smilingly. 

"The  Gospel  truth,  Noseby." 

"And  so  I  took  especial  pains  there," 

pursued  the  inspector.    "  I    went   down 

into    the    camps   and   talked   with    the 

Indians.     Poor  fellows,  they  have  griev- 


93 

ances  enough.  It 's  unpardonable  there 
should  be  such  utter  disregard  of  their 
feelings  and  prejudices  as  I  found  there. 
What  hope  of  civilizing  them  have  we  un- 
til we  can  get  their  good  will  ?  And  how 
can  we  get  it  by  such  means  as  I  found 
common  there  ?  We  must  move  slowly 
in  order  to  avoid  the  danger  of  a  retro- 
grade, always  so  harmful.  But  I  found 
the  most  harmless  dance  forbidden ;  and 
as  for  cigarettes,  the  poor  fellows  had 
been  told  that  these  were  the  machina- 
tions of  the  devil  who  devised  them  to 
empty  their  pockets  and  is  now  lying  in 
wait  to  destroy  the  poor  wretches,  body 
and  soul,  with  these  innocent  weapons." 
Noseby  interrupted  his  reading  to  look 
up  and  say  with  a  face  weathed  in  scorn, 
"As  if  even  that  stupid  fellow,  the  Evil 
One,  would  want  a  dead  Indian  any 
more  than  we  do  a  living?  For  my 
part,  he  might  have  'em  all  today,  but 
for  the  convenience  of  the  present 
arrangement." 


94 

"  De — cidedly ! "  echoed  the  senator. 
"  But  go  on.  That 's  a  fine  prologue." 

"  There 's  a  repression  and  violence 
exercised  over  the  whole  reservation,  or 
I  should  say  over  all  the  Indians  who  're 
not  devoted  and  slavish  followers  of  the 
agent  and  the  superintendent." 

" '  Slavish  followers ' !  "  echoed  In- 
trigue. "  I  didn  't  know  slavishness  was 
the  Indian  cut." 

"  Doesn't  it  sound  well  and  strengthen 
the  idea  of  coercion  ?  "  queried  Noseby. 

"To  be  sure." 

"Then,  why  do  you  object  to  it?" 

"  My  good  fellow,  I  was  only  asking 
for  my  own  information." 

"For  your  information,  then,  it's 
simply  the  old  struggle  for  power. 
Being  only  Indians,  they're  just  as  fond 
of  their  own  way  as  if  they  were — 
senators." 

"I  see.  'Slavish'  following,  then,  let 
it  be." 

"  As  a  sample  of  the  way  things  have 


95 

been  done,"  pursued  Noseby,  "  that 
man,  Sayre,  has  been  known  to  get  out 
of  his  bed  and  go  down  into  the  camps 
in  the  middle  of  the  night  and  break  up 
a  party  of  his  Indians  gambling  with  the 
Indians  of  a  neighboring  tribe.  If  a 
sharp  lecture  wouldn't  scatter  them,  he'd 
try  a  whip. 

The  senator  laughed.  "  Spunky  fel- 
low," isn't  he  ?" 

"  But,"  returned  the  other  gravely, 
"there's  a  special  reason  why  such 
'  spunk '  must  be  put  a  stop  to.  It 
doesn't  waste  itself  all  in  such  useless 
channels  as  this.  I  suspect  strongly, 
though  they  were  too  clever  to  give  me 
all  the  proof  I  wanted,  that  the  people 
down  there  are  in  collusion  with  those 
Eastern  philanthropists,  as  they  're 
called,  the  different  societies,  you  know, 
and  are  giving  'em  points  in  the  Indian 
work." 

The  senator's  lounging  attitude 
changed  instantly. 


96 

"That'll  never  do,"  he  cried.  "  Never, 
never  in  the  world.  Why,  Noseby,  — 
but  go  on.  Let  me  hear  your  report." 

"  I  was  speaking  about  Sayre  break- 
ing up  the  gambling,  wasn't  I?  And 
many  a  time  the  Indians  have  given 
him  their  money  to  keep  for  them,  lest 
they  should  gamble  it  away.  'Twould 
take  considerable  witnessing,  senator, 
and  of  the  kind  I  haven't  got, 'to  con- 
vince us  that  that  money  wasn't  as  com- 
pletely lost  to  the  poor  Lo's,  and  with- 
out their  having  had  the  enjoyment  of 
spending  it  themselves.  In  short,"  and 
here  the  inspector  searched  along  his 
page  and  faithfully  followed  copy,  "  I 
find,  I  say,  that  arbitrary  measures  have 
again  and  again  been  resorted  to  and 
that  the  free  and  natural  exercise  of  in- 
stincts which  is  necessary  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  life  has  in  many  ways  been 
denied  these  Indians  who,  if  they  are 
passing  away,  should  be  at  least  allowed 
to  pass  away  with  kindness." 


97 

"  And  as  speedily  as  possible,"  inter- 
polated Intrigue. 

"  But  in  that  case  what  would  become 
of  our  friends  ? "  questioned  the  in- 
spector fastening  his  eyes  for  a  moment 
upon  the  face  of  the  senator. 

"  Right,  Noseby,  quite  right.  Per- 
sonal predilections  must  not  interfere 
with  business.  Go  on." 

"  I  find  many  examples  of  this  spirit 
which  I  have  on  hand  to  heap  up  for 
conviction  in  case  of  need,  to  strengthen 
the  dose  ;  but  there's  no  need  of  tiring 
you  with  the  whole  of  'em.  Here's  a 
case  in  point.  '  I  find  also  in  the  super- 
intendent/ "  he  read,  "  '  a  flagrant  act 
of  derision  and  offence  to  their  medicine 
man  who  is,  really,  priest  and  prophet 
of  their  tribe,  a  thing  wholly  unneces- 
sary and  done  to  curry  favor  with  the 
Indians  of  his  side,  to  the  total  disre- 
regard,  I  might  say,  injury,  of  all  the 
others.' '  And  Noseby  gave  Pow-watz' 
version  of  Wolf's  Teeth's  story;  he 


made  no  mention  of  anything  learned  in 
conversation  with  the  latter;  this  was 
off  the  lines ;  decidedly,  the  senator 
would  not  have  wanted  it.  "  '  Now,  we 
know,'"  he  went  on  quoting  carefully 
from  his  notes,  "  '  though  an  incantation 
can  do  no  good,  it  must  in  the  nature 
of  the  case  be  harmless.  And  to  take  a 
man  out  from  under  the  care  of  his 
friends  and  relatives  in  this  manner  was 
simply  outrageous.  I  don't  wonder  the 
medicine  man  was  excited  when  he  told 
me  of  it,  even  alarmingly  so.  Not  to 
let  a  poor  fellow  die  among  his  own  is 
a  cruelty  not  to  be  condoned.' ' 
"  And  did  the  fellow  die  after  all? " 
Noseby  laughed  and  nursed  his 
knee. 

"Can't  catch  you  napping,  senator," 
he  retorted.  "No,  he  didn't  die.  He's 
as  well  as  you  or  I  at  this  minute.  But 
what  of  that  ?  He  might  have  died ;  he 
certainly  would  have  died.  And  so, 
isn't  the  cruelty  just  the  same?  Don't 


99 

go  to  spoiling  my  effects  that  I've 
worked  up  so  hard." 

"  Indeed  I  won't,"  returned  the  other. 

Both  men  laughed. 

"  Hutchins  and  Sayre  are  so  mixed 
up,  you  couldn't  accuse  one  without  the 
other,"  the  inspector  went  on.  "  And 
that's  lucky  for  us.  The  government 
has  put  two  men  down  there  to  do  the 
work  of  five,  —  and  I've  been  round  and 
picked  up  all  the  fifth  don't  do." 

"The  fifth?"  questioned  Intrigue. 

"  Yes,  the  fifth.  They  do  four  men's 
work,  and  more.  But  they  're  lazy  on 
the  fifth,  and  I  'm  sharp  after  everything 
they  Ve  left  out  on  that.  It 's  going  to 
tell  finely.  '  Many  important  things  left 
undone ;  too  much  laziness,  anyway.' 
I  've  got  dozens  of  things,  big  and  little, 
tucked  away  here  in  my  notebook ;  too 
little  clerical  work's  one  thing.  You 
don't  care  to  have  me  go  through  the 
list,  I  s'pose ! " 

"  You    can   prove   them    all?"    asked 


IOO 


Intrigue.  "That's  to  say,  Noseby,  prove 
them  in  your  own  way,  you  know." 

"  Prove  'em  !  "  echoed  the  other  with 
the  very  tone  of  injured  innocence. 
"What  do  you  take  me  for?  Do  you 
s'pose  there 's  the  least  doubt  of  my 
being  able  to  prove  everything  I  Ve  got 
here  ?  And  you  may  be  sure  I  sha'  n't 
throw  in  my  asides  to  you  by  way  of 
explanation,"  he  laughed.  "No,  sir!" 
he  went  on  warming  with  his  subject, 
"there's  no  doubt,  not  a  particle, — 
NOT  EVEN  IF  I  HAD  TO  PROVE 
'EM.  But  that's  out  of  our  line,  you 
see.  We  don't  prove ;  we  STATE.  In 
this  enlightened  age,  senator,  we  don't 
hang  a  fellow  on  one  man's  testimony. 
BUT  WE  CUT  OFF  HIS  HEAD!" 

The  inspector's  peal  of  laughter  was 
echoed  by  the  man  whom  his  state  had 
sent  to  guard  the  honor  of  her  name. 

"Pretty  good!"  he  cried.  "It's  the 
one  man  affair  that's  our  tower  of 
strength,  Noseby." 


101 


The  other  nodded.  "Twouldn't 
answer  to  have  jury  investigations,"  he 
returned  with  a  laugh.  "Let's  hold 
like  the  grip  to  the  one  man  evidence. 
Long  may  it  wave !  " 

"  Yes,"  returned  the  senator  with  an 
expression  of  bitter  irony, 

" '  long  may  it  wave 

O  'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the 
brave.' " 

Again  the  inspector  laughed.  Then 
the  talk  drifted  to  desultory  news  from 
different  reservations  and  about  different 
people.  Noseby  told  with  infinite  gusto 
how  an  agent,  a  friend  of  his,  had 
wanted  the  place  of  superintendent  on  a 
certain  reservation  for  a  cousin  of  his 
own,  and  not  being  able  to  succeed  in 
his  efforts  to  oust  the  superintendent, 
he  had  succeeded  in  having  the  super- 
intendency  abolished. 

"And  at  least  that  left  him  a  good 
deal  freer,"  commented  the  senator. 


IO2 


But  soon  he  returned  to  the  matter  in 
hand. 

"  That  suggestion  about  the  danger 
of  a  jury,"  he  began,  "  reminds  me  of 
what  you  said  about  the  men  down 
there  being  in  collusion  with  these 
Eastern  people,  these  societies.  This 
must  n't  be  allowed  upon  any  account 
whatever.  Once  let  this  fad  of  co- 
operation get  a  grip  on  those  young 
Indians,  and  our  day  has  gone.  Why, 
you  tell  me  they  're  trying  to  get  them 
to  think  and  act  for  themselves  in- 
stead of  hanging  round  waiting  for 
the  government  to  provide  for  them, 
its  precious  wards.  But  I  say,  let  'em 
hang.  Precious  little  it  will  do  for 
'em  so  long  as  you  and  I  and  those 
who  believe  like  us  are  to  the  fore. 
Ours  is  a  defensive  war,  Noseby,  we 
must  keep  off  the  enemy  at  any  cost, 
AT  ANY  COST,  I  say.  We  must  cut 
the  connections." 

"Rather  ticklish   business,   isn't  it?" 


IQ3 

inquired  the  inspector  with  great  in- 
terest. 

"Not  at  all,"  smiled  the  other,  "  if  we 
go  at  it  properly.  We  can't  switch  off 
the  men  at  this  end  of  the  line,  nor  buy 
them  up.  BUT  WE  OWN  THE 
OTHER  END.  There's  where  we 
must  make  the  break, — cut,  or  drop  the 
other  end,  it 's  all  the  same.  And  'twill 
have  to  come  from  a  cut,  anyway." 

"A  cut?" 

"Yes.  Don't  you  see,  Noseby? 
Cut  the  salaries.  There's  the  great 
army  of  the  unemployed  would  send  out 
volunteers  for  next  to  nothing.  We 
should  be  able  to  buy  up  just  such  men 
as  we  want,  souls  and  all,  for  much  less 
than  the  salaries  we  pay  the  Sayre  kind. 
Probably  there  is  n't  a  man  here, — well, 
to  put  it  rather  strongly, — who  would  n't 
be  glad  to  get  a  friend  or  two  in,  just  to 
get  rid  of  him.  So,  that  in  one  way  or 
another  we  ought  to  be  able  to  hold  the 
field  by  occupying  it." 


IO4 

They  laughed,  and  Noseby  added, 
"  Oh,  as  to  that,  I  '11  warrant  there 
would  n't  be  reservations  enough  to  go 
round." 

"Rotation  in  office,  that's  what  we 
want  here  especially,"  resumed  Intrigue 
with  decision.  "  Why,  do  you  begin 
to  realize  what  the  opposite  has  done  to 
us?  Take  these  two  Eastern  schools. 
In  one  case  Government  can't  put  the 
head  out, — well,  for  that  matter,  it  can't 
in  the  other  either.  There 's  where  the 
societies  come  in;  they'd  raise  one  in- 
fernal howl  through  the  land.  We 
don't  dare ;  that 's  the  only  reason  why 
we  don't  do  it.  But  what 's  the  conse- 
quence? A  fifteen  years'  chance  well 
used,  —  oh,  it  means  a  stride  straight 
over  the  neck  of  our  system.  Where 
should  we  have  been  if  those  Western 
men  had  had  such  a  chance  ?  But  they 
never  shall ;  it's  only  the  nearness  to 
their  friends  that  would  give  'em  a 
chance  ?  Indians  in  the  abstract  nobody 


cares  for.  But  these  Eastern  schools 
bring  'em  too  near  ;  they  begin  to  grow 
individual,— AND  THEY  SHOW  UP 
TOO  WELL.  Noseby,  the  Eastern 
schools  must  be  choked  off." 

In  his  earnestness  the  senator  leaned 
forward,  and  his  voice  rose  to  impres- 
siveness. 

"  Easy  to  say,"  returned  the  other. 
"  But,  as  you've  remarked  just  now,  it's 
been  tried  before.  And  then,  all  the 
commissioners  take  to  these." 

"All  the  commissioners  don't  vote 
the  supplies.  WE  DO.  What  have 
you  to  say  to  this  ?  Mind  you, 
Noseby,"  he  went  on,  "  I  don't  recom- 
mend the  wholesale  way  of  doing 
things.  Slide  down  gradually  and  un- 
dermine the  service.  As  long  as  we 
can't  kill  off  the  Indian,  we'll  use  him. 
I  hate  him,"  he  added  with  emphasis. 

"  So  do  I,"  returned  Noseby.  "  When 
you  try  me  with  that  soft  berth,  sen- 
ator,"— 


io6 

"  You  see  how  all  this  thing  works," 
the  other  went  on  without  heeding  him. 
"Put  first-class  people  out  there,  and 
intercourse  breeds  interest  here ;  and 
interest  wakes  up  the  people.  Our  saf- 
est, if  not  our  richest  field  will  be  lost. 
'So,  the  economy  that  saves  money  for 
the  country  by  this  cut  on  the  salaries 
works  in  two  ways ;  economy  is  always 
popular,  and  it  keeps  the  Indian  field  in 
our  hands." 

"  There's  one  thing  more,  senator,  in 
regard  to  congressional  economy  that 
you  forgot  to  mention,"  said  Noseby 
bending  a  trifle  nearer  his  companion 
than  was  agreeable  to  the  companion. 
For  the  senator  was  in  no  way  unmind- 
ful of  the  distance  that  separates  the 
gentleman  who  pays  for  his  work  to  be 
done  for  him  and  the  villain  who  does  it 
for  the  pay.  But  his  sudden  haughti- 
ness did  not  disconcert  the  man  who 
had  resolved  to  stand  one  day  as  high 
as  he,  even  to  surroundings.  "  Econ- 


107 

omy  in  some  ways,"  he  went  on,  "  gives 
a  man  a  chance  to  do  a  fair  thing  for 
himself  in  another  way.  That's  what 
people  ought  to  expect.  You're  here  to 
spend  the  Government  money,  you 
congressmen,  and  to  choose  your  own 
way  of  doing  it." 

And  leaning  back  in  his  chair,  his 
eyes,  by  chance,  lighted  upon  a  choice 
painting  that  Intrigue  had  just  bought 
and  that,  it  happened,  had  actually  come 
from  money  which  the  senator  had 
known  how  to  make  his  position  yield 
him  so  liberally. 

The  other  moved  uneasily,  eyed 
Noseby  with  a  stare,  which,  as  it  pro- 
duced no  other  effect  than  an  indulgent 
smile,  gave  way  to  a  look  of  compre- 
hension under  which  he  strove  to  hide 
the  embarrassment  that  he  had  the 
grace  to  feel.  But  this,  too,  gave  way 
when  he  perceived  how  completely  a 
matter  of  course  this  use  of  his  opportu- 
nities appeared  to  his  companion. 


io8 

With  one  of  the  inconsistencies  of 
human  nature,  he  scored  this  trait 
against  Noseby  in  his  future  dealings 
with  him  as  the  mark  of  a  dangerous 
unscrupulousness.  But  at  the  moment 
he  returned  the  smile,  and  the  educa- 
tion which,  for  good  or  ill  every  man 
bears  with  him  for  every  other  man  was 
not  lost  upon  the  inspector. 

"It's  worth  something,  senator, 
recollect,"  said  Noseby  as  he  rose  to 
go,  "to  turn  men  on  true  evidence, — 
true  on  one  side,  you  know, —  out  of  the 
best  governed  reservation  in  the  ser- 
vice ;  and  I  shall  have  hard  work  to  do 
it ;  for  some  of  the  powers  that  be 
actually  don't  object  to  good  men." 

"Well,  aren't  you  capable  of  it?" 

Noseby  winked.  The  senator  had  to 
stand  it;  he  needed  him. 

"Is  it  really  the  best  governed  reser- 
vation in  the  service  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Yes.  Don't  you  want  a  good  place 
for  your  friends?"  They'll  find  things 


i  op 

in  fine  order, —  if  I  haven't  tipped  'em 
up  a  bit,"  he  added  under  his  breath. 

"  Things  won't  stay  so  long,  I'll  be 
bound,"  returned  the  other,  "  for  Green 
has  never  seen  an  Indian,  and  Barnes 
hates  'em  as  much  as  we  do.  But  then, 
the  fellows  will  get  in,  and  it's  not  my 
fault  if  they  don't  stay." 

"  Make  room  for  the  next  ones," 
suggested  the  inspector  with  the  smile 
that  Intrigue  did  not  like  when  it  was 
directed  against  himself. 

"  If  you  succeed  with  my  men,"  he 
began,  when  the  other  interrupted  him. 

"  It's  my  business  to  get  the  others 
out,"  he  said,  "and  I'll  bet  on  doing  it. 
Why,  the  sheer  goodness  of  their 
superiors  will  settle  the  whole  business. 
I've  only  to  present  the  case  in  my  own 
powerful  way,  hey,  senator  ?  But  as  to 
putting  the  others  in, — they've  been 
in  Government  service  somewhere  a 
while  ago,  you  say,  which  makes  it 
easier.  But,  anyway,  it's  your  racket, 


no 


and  I  presume  you  know  how  to  work 
it.  If  not,  'twill  be  the  first  neat  little 
job  you  ever  did  get  stuck  on." 

The  other  shrugged  his  shoulders. 
"If  you  succeed,"  he  answered,  "be 
sure  I  won't  forget  my  part  of  the  con- 
tract." 

"  No,"  returned  Noseby  with  a  laugh, 
"I'm  quite  sure  you  won't.  It's  not 
your  way  to  forget  your  friends,"  he 
pursued  ignoring  the  congressional 
frown. 

"And  you're  confident  of  success?'' 
questioned  the  senator  with  a  touch  of 
that  haughtiness  which  would  be  over- 
whelming in  case  of  failure. 

"  Confident  ?  When  I've  found  fault 
with  everything  from  the  food  straight 
up,  or  down !  Yes,  I'll  bet  on  that," 
He  smiled  at  Intrigue.  "Do  you  forget 
that  before  I  went  down  I  knew  just 
what  I  was  to  find?"  he  asked.  "We 
sized  up  the  business,  you  recollect,  and 
got  points  on  the  things  considered 


Ill 


the  most  objectionable.  I  have 'em  all 
here."  And  he  touched  his  note  book. 
"  You  can  always  find  what  you  look 
for,  if  it's  fault,"  he  went  on.  "  And, 
then  there  was  a  nice  little  girl  down 
there  in  the  school  to  help  me ;  she 
didn't  mind  giving  me  points,  and 
plenty  of  'em ;  and  I  suspect  that  certain 
things  I  particularly  wanted  would  have 
been  missing  if  she  hadn't  made  'em  for 
me.  So  kind  in  her!  I  gave  her  no 
end  of  compliments,  which  she  appre- 
ciated vastly.  But  she  would  like 
something  rather  more  solid,  you  know, 
—  promotion,  for  instance.  I  promised 
it  to  her.  I  hope  you'll  help  me  to  get 
it  for  her.  It  wouldn't  be  bad  for  your 
friends,  either.  You  see,  scalping  these 
fellows  all  in  a  minute  early  in  June  will 
give  your  friends  a  chance  at  next  year's 
nominations." 

"  Certainly,  certainly,"  responded  In- 
trigue making  a  few  hurried  notes  and 
evidently  anxious  to  get  rid  of  his 


112 


visitor,  and  determined  to  get  rid  of 
him  in  another  way  by  giving  him  the 
utmost  of  his  desire  politically,  even  if 
this  were  a  post  that  he  was  notoriously 
unfitted  for.  "I'm  all  ready  when  the 
thing's  done  to  carry  out  my  part  of  the 
agreement,"  he  repeated,  rising  and 
edging  the  other  toward  the  door. 
"So,  that's  a  sure  thing.' 

"That's  fair  play!"  laughed  the 
other.  "  And  good  morning  to  you, 
senator."  And  he  went  out  smiling. 

"He  might  have  said  'Thank  you,'" 
muttered  Intrigue.  "  But,  after  all,  the 
one  thing  important  is  to  provide  for 
my  friends,  and  then  to  get  rid  of  him." 
He  sat  down  and  took  up  his  pen 
again. 

It  was  some  time,  however,  before  he 
could  collect  his  thoughts  to  go  on 
with  his  work. 

Noseby,  still  smiling,  large,  florid, 
fluent,  successful  and  living  only  for 
success,  worshipping  it  as  the  idol  of 


"3 

his  dreams,  conscious  —  through  his 
long  course  of  ignoring  them,  —  of 
obligations  to  no  other  human  being 
than  himself,  unless  to  those  whom  he 
served  through  self-interest,  ran  down 
the  steps  of  Intrigue's  house,  and  in 
his  swift  landing  on  the  sidewalk  almost 
upset  a  man  with  whom  he  sharply 
collided.  He  laughed,  apologized,  and 
hurried  on,  muttering  to  himself,  still 
laughing, 

"  Old  star-gazer  !  " 

It  was  true  that  the  man  was  gazing 
at  the  stars  as,  high  overhead,  they 
floated  out  against  the  sky  as  deep  a 
blue  as  the  azure  in  which  these  were 
set.  For  it  was  Decoration  Day.  And 
this  old  man's  eyes  were  dim  and  the 
pain  filled  his  heart  with  its  old  keen- 
ness. It  seemed  to  him  to  be  down- 
ward that  he  was  gazing  into  a  grave 
in  which  lay  his  only  son  who  should 
have  been  the  staff  of  his  old  age.  The 
flag  had  been  draped  around  him,  the 


114 

flag  he  had  died  for  in  those  days  when 
the  land  teemed  with  heroes.  This  son, 
dead  with  a  wound  in  the  breast,  had 
helped  to  mend  the  ghastly  rent  in  the 
dear  old  flag.  It  had  been  knitted 
together,  it  seemed  to  the  old  man,  with 
the  very  life  tissues  of  those  who  had 
died  for  it ;  the  blood  of  their  courage 
had  reddened  its  stripes,  the  purity  of 
their  devotion  made  fairer  its  whiteness, 
and  their  loyalty  had  been  like  the  deep 
background  of  its  stars,  that  back- 
ground from  which  the  stars  of  our 
union  shine  out. 

He  seemed  to  see  the  processions 
winding  through  the  graveyards  of  the 
land  and  laying  their  tributes  of  flowers 
at  the  graves  of  its  soldiers.  At  the 
moment  he  felt  life  all  the  more  lonely. 
But  it  was  joy  that  through  all  the  sad 
years  past  and  to  come,  the  dear  old 
flag  had  waved  and  would  wave 
unstained  and  without  the  loss  of  a 
star. 


"5 

"  Old  star-gazer  !  "  Noseby  had  called 
him  in  open  scorn. 

For  what  cared  Noseby  and  In- 
trigue who  had  fought  and  won  the 
battles  ?  To  them  the  question  was  of 
spoils.  The  dead  were  welcome  to 
their  empty  honors,  so  long  as  they 
themselves  held  the  substance. 

And  so,  while  Intrigue  prepared  to 
work  his  will  in  his  own  place,  Noseby 
with  the  buoyant  step  of  a  triumph 
already  won,  walked  on  to  the  delivery 
of  his  official  report,  a  report  that 
through  many  true  statements  warped 
to  suit  his  purpose,  he  had  made  to 
read  so  like  the  truth  that  an  honest 
desire  to  act  with  fairness  upon  it  was 
not  likely  to  penetrate  the  disguise 
without  the  weapons  of  further  evi- 
dence. And,  even  if  it  could,  what 
power  Noseby  and  his  colleagues  had 
to  carry  through  their  purpose  !  Every- 
where were  men  and  reinforcements  for 
them.  Resistance  on  all  sides  was  im- 


n6 

possible.  And  let  them  once  make  a 
gap  and  spring  into  it,  and  defence  was 
hopeless ;  the  fortress  was  won,  —  not 
betrayed,  it  may  be,  but  conquered. 

So,  while  Sayre  and  Hutchins  were 
putting  down  again  that  element  of  in- 
subordination to  civilized  rule  which  the 
presence  and  authority  of  Noseby  had 
made  rampant,  the  official  gallows  was 
being  built  for  these  Mordecais  whose 
honor  was  a  reproach  to  the  dishonor  of 
their  superiors. 


VI. 

i  AY  had  come,  and  gone ; 
and  the  expectancy  which 
had  followed  Noseby's  visit 
had  died  out  in  the  hearts 
of  the  Indian  leaders.  The  vigorous 
rule  which  had  asserted  itself  once 
more  seemed  to  them  not  only  inflexi- 
ble, but  permanent.  With  Pow-watz, 
to  be  sure,  hope  still  lingered,  and  he 
expressed  this  to  Queseo.  But  the 
chief  was  not  sanguine,  and  the  two 
had  ceased  to  discuss  the  matter,  even 
with  the  head  men. 

It  was  almost  the  middle  of  June,  the 
late  afternoon  of  a  sultry  day,  that 
Wasu  and  Chekotoco  sat  on  a  rude 
bench  under  a  tree  in  the  school 
grounds.  They  were  acknowledged 
lovers,  and  not  only  did  life  run  for 
them  in  the  "  golden  sands "  suited  to 


n8 

this  fact,  but  there  was  in  their  future 
an  actual  brightness  and  hope.  The 
young  Indian  had  shown  himself  of 
better  stuff  than  Sayre  had  at  one  time 
dared  to  dream  was  in  him,  and  there 
seemed  no  reason  why  these  two 
should  not  have  as  free  and  happy  and 
civilized  a  life  among  the  healthful 
influences  of  civilization  as  any  young 
white  couple. 

That  afternoon  they  had  been  sitting 
silent  awhile,  the  young  man  pondering 
over  some  information  that  he  had 
received,  when  he  turned  to  Wasu. 

"  And  are  they  all  talking  about  us 
Indians  ? "  he  asked.  "  And  do  they 
do  it  often,  you  say  ?  " 

As  he  spoke,  he  nodded  toward  the 
window  of  a  corner  room  in  the  school 
building,  —  Mrs.  Sayre's  parlor,  — 
through  which  figures  could  be  seen 
and  from  which  floated  out  the  sound  of 
eager  voices. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Wasu,    "  they   talk 


about  Indians,  Mr.  Hutchins,  and  Mrs. 
Hutchins,  and  the  missionaries,  and 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sayre.  They  talk  about 
us  often,  what  they  shall  do  for  us. 
Mrs.  Sayre  told  me." 

Chekotoco's  eyes  wandered  from  the 
window  and  the  school  grounds  far  out 
over  the  plain  to  the  horizon  where  the 
sky  of  June  met  the  earth  in  a  blue  as 
deep  as  that  of  the  summer  sea,  except 
over  the  divide  where  the  warmth  of 
coming  sunset  had  mellowed  it  to  the 
zenith.  The  vivid  impressions  of  his 
school  days  had  been  somewhat  worn 
away  by  the  attritions  of  reservation  life, 
and  this  landscape  which  enclosed  his 
present  looked  to  him  large  and  im- 
portant. 

And  yet  the  life  beyond  this  horizon, 
the  one  like  his  past,  had  its  keen 
attractions  for  him.  It  was  the  power 
of  reaching  forth  to  this  outside  life 
which  gave  the  white  man  his  import- 
ance in  the  Indian's  eyes. 


I2O 


He  looked  down  at  the  little  figure 
beside  him.  "  Perhaps  they  're  talking 
about  us  now,  Wasu,"  he  said. 

Wasu  blushed  and  smiled,  like  any 
white  girl  whose  wedding  day  is  only  a 
week  off  and  who  feels  the  whole  air 
astir  with  preparations,  and  believes, 
although  she  will  not  say  it,  that  there 
can  be  nothing  so  important  this  side  of 
the  event. 

"Yes,  they  talk  of  us  part  of  the 
time,"  she  answered  demurely.  "They 
have  so  much  to  do  for  us.  Mrs. 
Sayre,  she  take  so  much  trouble.  But 
she  say  it  not  too  much  for  a  good  girl 
like  me." 

"  That 's  so,"  returned  Chekotoco,  his 
face  radiant. 

And  while  the  people  in  conclave  in 
the  house  discussed  the  affairs  of  the 
reservation  with  that  unity  of  interest 
and  purpose  which  enabled  them  to  do 
much  excellent  work  and  to  make  in 
many  places  beginnings  which  with  time 


121 


and  care  would  lead  to  fine  results,  the 
lovers  sat  and  talked  of  the  future  that 
would  be  opened  to  them  through  this 
very  care  and  zeal.  If  white  men  and 
women  elsewhere  were  like  these,  the 
young  Indians  were  more  than  ready  to 
go  out  among  them  and  take  their 
birthright.  Chekotoco's  ambition  had 
been  stirred  and  his  love  for  Wasu 
appealed  to  as  a  stimulus  to  urge  him 
forward.  And  Wasu's  ambition  was 
unflagging. 

As  they  sat  there  a  figure  came  up 
to  the  gate  and  passed  through,  and 
Wolf's  Teeth  strode  up  and  sat  down 
beside  them.  He  was  full  of  the  fine 
wedding  for  his  daughter  that  was  com- 
ing off  so  soon. 

"  Big  tubs  lemonade,"  he  said,  "  and 
all  the  Indians  have  all  they  want.  In- 
dians all  fishes  that  day,  they  so  dry. 
And  then  they  have  feast,  too.  The 
white  man  give  it.  Cost  heap  money. 
When  you  go  out,  Wasu,  with  the  white 


122 


people,  you  get  heap  money,  too.  You 
give  us  a  feast.  What  say,  Cheko- 
toco?"  And  the  Indian  broke  into  a 
laugh  of  amused  anticipation. 

The  others  laughed  also,  with  no 
dissent  in  their  tones  ;  and  in  some  way 
the  distance  and  strangeness  which 
Wolf's  Teeth  had  dreaded  so  much  in 
their  going  away,  though  he  would  not 
speak  of  them,  were  lessened. 

Wolf 's  Teeth  told  what  he  had  been 
doing,  how  Napooaz,  whom  he  now 
always  called  George  Washington,  had 
settled  down  to  farming  like  any  white 
man,  how  Accowvootz  liked  to  hear  the 
money  jingle  in  his  pockets  and  for  this 
reason  was  coming  to  exert  himself 
more  and  more ;  how  his  uncle,  Arreep, 
had  given  up  storing  his  things  in  the 
house  that  had  been  built  for  him  and 
had  gone  into  it  himself  to  live.  And 
many  other  changes  he  spoke  of  which 
had  come  about  through  the  labors  of 


123 

these  people  now  in  conference  in  Mrs. 
Sayre's  little  parlor. 

At  last  he  turned  to  Chekotoco. 
The  amusement  had  gone  from  his  face, 
and  even  his  manner  had  gained  the 
dignity  of  intense  earnestness. 

"Chekotoco,"  he  said,  "you  go  out 
among  white  men.  You  the  son  of  our 
chief ;  you  stand  first  here.  You  stand 
first  there;  you  work;  you  make  them 
find  out  Indian  somebody.  Will  you?" 

A  flash  in  the  young  man's  eyes 
answered  the  fire  in  Wolf's  Teeth's. 
Wasu  slipped  her  hand  into  her  lover's, 
and  as  she  met  its  pressure,  she  turned 
to  her  father. 

"Yes,  he  will,"  she  answered,  her 
face  lighting  up  with  earnestness. 

"  Yes,  I  will,"  said  Chekotoco. 
"They'll  see  the  Indian  is  behind 
nobody." 

The  older  man  nodded  his  satisfac- 
tion. "Ya,  ya,"  he  said.  "That  good. 


124 

You  do  well ;  then  we  try  some  more 
Indians." 

As  he  spoke  there  arose  from  the 
point  of  the  horizon  over  the  divide 
where  the  trail  winds  down  into  the 
plain  a  cloud  of  dust  that  hid  from  them 
for  the  moment  the  foe  who  was  to  cut 
athwart  their  hopes  and  plans.  Then 
the  figure  of  a  horse  and  behind  him  of 
a  man  in  a  wagon,  the  figure  of  Queseo, 
were  silhouetted  against  the  western 
sky. 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  Sayre 
leaning  out  of  the  window  for  a  breath 
of  the  air  which  came  sparingly  that  hot 
afternoon,  saw  far  down  the  road,  rising 
against  the  blue  line  of  the  horizon, 
another  cloud  of  dust.  In  the  perfect 
level  of  the  plain  it  was  long  before  he 
could  discern  clearly  the  object  which  he 
knew  at  once  that  this  heralded,  the 
daily  stage  which  brought  them  their 
mail  and  their  news  from  the  outer 
world,  and  rare  visitors,  an  inspector, 


125 

perhaps,  or  an  army  officer,  scarcely 
ever  any  other.  For  a  time  after  Nose- 
by's  visit  the  mail  had  been  looked 
forward  to  with  apprehension.  But  the 
results  feared  had  tarried  now  so  long 
that  in  their  work  the  thought  of  these 
had  almost  passed  from  the  minds  of 
the  men  always  more  occupied  with 
hopes  and  plans  than  with  fears. 

As  now  along  the  dusty  road  the 
lumbering  coach  drew  nearer  and 
nearer,  Sayre  was  far  more  interested 
in  what  Mr.  Rathman,  the  missionary, 
was  reading  as  to  an  opening  promised 
his  artist  boy  where  he  could  work  his 
way  and  still  study  than  in  any  thought 
of  his  mail.  He  watched  the  coach 
absently,  and  as  he  caught  sight  of 
Queseo  coming  down  the  slope  of  the 
divide  and  about  to  reach  the  school, — 
if  he  were  coming  here, —  at  the  same 
time  with  the  stage,  he  smiled  to  him- 
self through  his  listening  at  the  thought 
of  Queseo  coming  for  the  mail. 


126 


As  the  stage  drew  toward  the  door, 
the  three  on  the  bench  rose  and  went  to 
the  piazza  to  be  present  at  the  event 
of  the  day,  its  arrival. 

"  Somebody's  come,"  said  Wasu  in 
her  own  tongue,  as  she  ran  up  the 
steps.  "  Perhaps  it's  company  for  Mrs. 
Sayre,  and  she'll  want  me." 

Sayre  had  turned  away  again,  and 
the  people  in  the  room  were  too  busy 
to  notice  what  was  going  on  outside, 
until  a  scraggy  hand  worked  at  the 
fastenings  of  the  stage  door  and  a  harsh 
voice  called,  "What  're  you  about? 
Let  us  out  of  this,  can't  you  ?  " 

At  the  same  moment  the  door  gave 
way  and  the  speaker  landed  somewhat 
precipitately  on  the  steps.  He  recov- 
ered himself,  and  turning,  helped  out 
two  ladies,  leaving  the  remaining  occu- 
pant of  the  stage  to  follow  them. 

Sayre  looked  at  the  two  men,  one 
domineering,  the  other  sly  of  face.  He 
bent  his  head  a  moment,  and  his  brows 


127 

knitted.  Then  he  rushed  into  the  office 
where  the  mail  was  just  being  distrib- 
uted. 

The  rest  of  the  party  collected  from 
the  parlor  to  the  piazza.  Here  Mrs. 
Sayre's  look  of  expectation  was  met  by 
a  stare  from  each  member  of  the  quar- 
tette. 

"  Won't  you  walk  in  ?  "  she  asked. 

"I  reckon  we  will,"  answered  the 
older  man  with  a  laugh. 

And  pushing  past,  he  attempted  to 
lead  the  way. 

But  Mrs.  Sayre  was  too  quick  for 
him ;  and  it  was  she  who  held  open  the 
door  of  her  parlor  for  the  strangers. 
These  filed  in  and  seated  themselves 
without  even  waiting  for  the  invitation 
which  was  upon  the  lips  of  their 
hostess. 

"  I  reckon  you'd  better  take  this  lady 
to  her  room  at  once,"  pursued  the  elder 
of  the  two  men ;  "  or  show  her  round 
an'  she'll  choose  for  herself.  My  wife 


128 

an'  I'll  go  up  to  the  other  house  after  a 
bit.  Wouldn't  you  like  to  go  with  'em, 
Eliza,  an'  wash  your  face  an'  freshen  up 
for  supper  ?  " 

Sayre  coming  into  the  room  caught 
the  last  words.  He  exchanged  a  glance 
with  his  wife,  and  nodded  to  her  with- 
out speaking. 

"  Wasu  !  "  she  called. 

The  girl  came  in.  She  looked  at  the 
two  strange  women  with  an  insight 
which  would  have  angered  them  could 
they  have  suspected  anything  under  her 
staidness.  For  she  could  not  have 
defined,  but  she  saw  that  one  was 
vinegar-faced  and  the  other  phlegmatic 
to  stupidity. 

"  Show  these  ladies  to  the  guest 
room,  Wasu  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Sayre. 

"Is  that  the  way  you  talk  to  In- 
dians ? "  asked  the  younger  woman  with 
a  toss  of  her  head.  "  There's  none  of 
that  trash  about  me,  I  can  tell  you." 
She  cast  a  glance  of  defiance  at  Mrs. 


129 

Sayre  and  with  her  companion  quitted 
the  room  in  Wasu's  wake. 

Hutchins  broke  the  seal  of  the  letter 
which  Sayre  had  just  handed  him,  read 
and  passed  it  back  to  him,  receiving 
Sayre's  own  in  exchange.  "  You  are 
Mr.  Barnes,  the  new  agent  ?  "  he  asked 
the  older  man.  "  And  you  are  Mr. 
Green,  the  new  superintendent?"  he 
said  to  the  other. 

"Takes  great  acumen  to  discover 
us ! "  sneered  he  who  was  to  be  the 
schoolmaster.  "  Who  else  could  we 
be,  as  you  must  have  known  days 
ago?" 

"  It's  only  in  these  letters  just  re- 
ceived that  this  information  has  come," 
returned  Sayre ;  "  or  you'd  have  found 
us  more  ready  for  you." 

"Not  a  doubt  of  it!"  returned  the 
new  agent  with  his  discordant  laugh. 
"  But,  if  I'm  not  mistaken,  that's 
what  the  office  wished  to  guard  against, 
—  you're  being  too  ready  for  us,  setting 


130 

your  Indians  on  their  ear.  Ready  !  I 
guess  so." 

"  Sir  ! "  thundered  Sayre. 

The  man  stopped,  actually  frightened 
by  Sayre's  look.  "  I  — that's  what  was 
told  me,"  he  said. 

"  It's  a  lie,  sir,  whoever  said  it ; 
and  any  more  such  information  as  you 
may  have  received  you  will  keep  to 
yourself,  or  say  it  out  of  my  hearing. 
Remember  that." 

"  I  will,"  meekly  returned  the  new 
agent. 

As  he  turned  his  head,  he  caught 
sight  of  the  face  of  an  Indian  looking  in 
at  the  door,  a  wondering  face,  as  if  its 
owner  could  not  take  in  the  situation 
fully,  and  yet  with  dismay  upon  it,  as  if 
he  had  already  perceived  enough  for 
dismay.  Barnes  had  no  wish  to  give 
himself  away,  as  he  put  it.  If  Sayre 
would  make  no  trouble,  none  should 
come  through  his  indiscretion.  He 
turned  his  back  upon  Wolf's  Teeth 


with  contempt,  and  began  to  speak  to 
Hutchins. 

It  was  Green  who  caught  sight  of  an 
Indian  face  at  the  window,  a  face 
framed  in  lank  hair  and  matted  braids, 
its  eyes  glowing  with  a  wild  exultation, 
its  lips  shut  tightly  to  repress  the  shout 
that  seemed  ready  to  break  forth,  its 
look  turned  now  upon  Barnes  and  then 
upon  Sayre  in  a  silent  laughter  that 
twisted  every  wrinkle  into  hideous  con- 
tortion. 

Fear  seized  upon  Green.  It  seemed 
to  him  that  a  fiend  was  mocking  at 
them.  He  turned  deadly  pale ;  he 
tried  to  withdraw  his  eyes  from  the 
window.  But  they  were  held  there  as  if 
fascinated.  And  in  another  moment  he 
found  that  the  eyes  in  this  face  were 
looking  at  him,  through  him  ;  they  had 
found  out  his  terror  and  were  exulting 
in  it,  gloating  over  it.  Then  they  turned 
to  the  new  agent,  and  pierced  to  a  dis- 
quiet there  deeper  than  his  arrogance. 


132 

They  took  in  the  dignity  of  Hutchins, 
the  man  whose  words,  as  the  Indians 
knew,  were  like  his  bullets  which  "  hit 
every  time." 

They  turned  upon  Sayre.  Here  was 
the  keenest  interest,  the  test  of  what 
the  others  were. 

Sayre  stood  apart,  silent,  his  eyes 
flashing,  his  brows  knitted,  his  head 
thrown  back.  On  one  side  his  wife 
watched  him ;  on  the  other  this  Indian 
face. 

Suddenly,  he  became  conscious  of 
scrutiny.  He  turned,  —  and  met  the 
flaming  eyes  of  the  Indian. 

But  these  eyes  in  meeting  his  own, 
lost  their  fire,  wavered,  and  fell. 

The  face  disappeared  from  the  win- 
dow. 

"  Little  white  chief,  he  lost  his  scalp, 
as  the  white  man  say,"  muttered  its 
owner.  "  But  just  the  same  his  big 
heart  beat.  But  this  will  not  be  for 
long.  It  our  turn  now." 


133 

"  It's  our  turn  now,"  he  repeated 
with  all  his  exultation  returned  in  the 
knowledge  that  the  power  of  Sayre  and 
Hutchins  was  gone,  and  that  Sayre's 
successor  was  afraid  of  Queseo,  the 
Indian  chief.  No  animal  was  ever 
quicker  to  note  signs  of  terror  in  the 
human  animal  born  to  dominate  them 
than  were  these  Indian  leaders  who 
longed  for  the  savage  life  to  note  the 
impression  that  they  made  upon  these 
specimens  of  the  dominant  white  man 
with  whom  they  came  in  contact.  It 
takes  civilization  to  respect  an  office  in 
spite  of  the  man  who  fills  it.  The  eye 
of  this  new  agent  and  that  of  the  super- 
intendent counted  more  to  the  Indians 
than  their  seals  of  office. 

It  was  what  Queseo  had  found  in  the 
eye  of  Green  that  sent  him  home  with 
the  wild  shout  ringing  out  into  the 
night  so  soon  as  he  had  gone  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  agency  settlement,  for 
he  could  not  forget  that  Sayre  and 


134 

Hutchins  were  still  there.  He  had 
gone  to  the  agency  to  ask  a  permis- 
sion ;  he  came  back  to  announce  a  vic- 
tory of  which  in  spite  of  Noseby's  in- 
sinuations and  Pow-watz'  faith  he  had 
not  dared  to  dream. 

In  the  summer  twilight  his  waving 
arm  could  be  seen  as  he  drove  up  to 
the  camps,  and  his  cry  of  news  brought 
the  whole  village  about  him. 

"  I'm  chief  again  !  "  he  cried.  "  And 
Pow-watz  the  medicine  man.  They 
'  kicked  out ' ;  that  what  the  little  white 
chief  calls  it.  His  big  heart  no  use 
now.  The  new  white  men,  they  not 
have  big  heart ;  they  afraid  of  Queseo, 
the  Indian  chief.  Let  them  be.  We 
keep  them  afraid." 

Then  his  eye  lighted  upon  Cheko- 
toco  who  had  followed  his  father  to 
camp,  and  now  stood  among  the  re- 
turned students  who  had  grouped  them- 
selves together  as  if  to  meet  united  the 
impending  blow  to  their  liberties. 


For  they  knew  how  Hutchins  and 
Sayre  had  mitigated  to  them  by  every 
possible  means  the  evils  of  camp  lifej 
The  two  men  recognized  in  these  young 
people  the  solution  of  the  Indian  prob- 
lem. And  they  saw  in  them  also  a 
more  personal  appeal,  a  band  of  young 
soldiers  struggling  to  do  their  best  in  a 
forlorn  hope.  They  came  to  the  res- 
cue ;  they  stimulated  them  to  long  for 
and  to  try  for  the  life  of  other  young 
Americans ;  they  strove  to  put  into 
their  hands  the  weapons  of  knowledge 
and  skill,  and  to  bring  up  to  their  aid 
the  reserve  forces  of  opportunity  which 
lagged  so  far  in  the  rear. 

All  in  a  moment,  this  was  over.  But 
even  their  despair  did  not  recognize 
how  utterly  until  Queseo  caught  sight 
of  his  son  among  them. 

"  Chekotoco  !  "  called  the  chief  in 
tones  that  the  young  man  then  and 
there  did  not  think  it  wise  to  disregard. 

He  came  forward. 


156 

"  It  not  matter  now  if  you  twenty 
one,"  shrieked  the  chief.  "  Mr.  Sayre 
not  be  here  any  longer  to  tell  me  you 
of  age,  you  too  old  to  obey  your  father. 
It  not  the  white  man's  rule  here  now. 
You  not  forget  that.  Every  young 
man  will  do  as  his  father  tell  him. 
That's  my  orders." 

His  imitation  of  Sayre's  tone  and 
manner  would  have  been  amusing  had 
not  the  situation  been  fatal  for  many  of 
his  listeners. 

"  We  have  a  medicine  dance  now," 
announced  Pow-watz. 

The  old  rule  had  indeed  come  back; 
and  no  mourning  for  this  dared  show 
itself  in  face  of  the  blatant  exultation. 
All  the  summer  night  the  chief,  the 
medicine  man,  and  a  few  other  choice 
spirits  with  them  sat  in  conference,  and 
in  their  plotting  to  grasp  the  reins  of 
power  over  their  people  firmly  once 
more,  not  one  Indian  who  was  doing  his 
best  to  become  civilized  was  forgotten. 


137 

The  young  men  were  portioned  out 
to  one  and  another  to  be  brought  into 
subjection. 

With  the  disappearance  of  the  face 
from  the  window  Green  breathed  freely 
again,  and  began  to  question  Mrs.  Sayre 
in  regard  to  the  building,  the  rooms  and 
the  pupils.  He  did  not  quite  like  to 
speak  to  Sayre,  that  silence  of  his  was 
too  formidable 

As  they  were  talking,  the  two  women 
returned.  Mrs.  Sayre  explained  to 
Mrs.  Green  that  their  ignorance  of  the 
change  of  superintendents  had  made  it 
impossible  to  be  ready  for  them,  but 
that  in  a  few  days  they  would  be  ready 
to  leave  the  field  in  order  to  the  new 
comers. 

"In  a  few  days!"  shrieked  Mrs. 
Green.  "  What  am  /  to  do  in  the 
mean  time?  I  can't  do  anything  with 
other  people  round.  Our  position 
dates  from  today  noon.  You'll  have  to 
be  packed  and  out  of  this  tonight." 


Sayre  looked  up  sharply.  He  was 
about  to  speak,  then  checked  himself 
and  stood  silent  with  head  erect.  They 
had  many  friends  among  the  Indians. 
If  there  should  come  to  these  an  idea  of 
any  dissension,  and  such  an  idea  would 
fly  quickly,  there  would  be  trouble, 
annoyance  and  bitterness  if  nothing 
more  serious.  This  should  not  be. 

"  My  last  month's  salary  has  not  come 
yet  through  some  detention,"  he  said 
finally  with  studied  quietness.  "My 
home  is  hundreds  of  miles  off,  and  I 
shall  be  obliged  to  ask  your  forbearance 
for  a  day  until  I  can  get  at  some 
money;  for, — not  looking  for  this, — I'm 
short." 

"Why,"  began  Mrs.  Rathman,  "you 
must  come"  —  when  she  stopped  in 
wonder  at  a  figure  that  strode  into  the 
room.  Wasu  had  returned  and  was 
standing  beside  Mrs.  Sayre.  It  was 
Wolf's  Teeth  who  came  in  with  a 
glance  far  from  friendly  at  the  new 


139 

comers,  and  walked  directly  up  to 
Sayre. 

"Mr.  Sayre,"  he  began,  "I  have 
house.  My  squaw  and  me,  ve  go  out- 
side ;  you  and  Mrs.  Sayre,  you  come  in 
there.  I  not  forget  when  you  give  me 
your  best  room.  I  give  you  mine. 
You  not  stay  where  they  not  want  you. 
Indians  give  you  all  they  have ;  they 
proud  to  have  you  in  their  houses." 

Mrs.  Sayre's  head  went  down  with  a 
sob  on  Wasu's  shoulder. 

Sayre  choked.  "  Thank  you,  Wolf's 
Teeth,"  he  said  brokenly,  and  grasped 
the  dark  hand  held  out  to  him. 

"You  want  money,"  pursued  Wolf's 
Teeth.  "  I  got  it  here  in  my  pocket, — 
thirty  dollars.  And  I  go  round  to  the 
Indians,  I  get  you  five  hundred  quicker 
'n  you  can  talk.  You  say  so,  they  give 
it  to  you.  They  like  the  white  man's 
way, — some  white  man's  way,"  he  added 
with  a  sweeping  glance  of  scorn  at  the 
new  officials.  "You  take  this  now;  I 


140 

get  you  more."  And  he  thrust  a  roll  of 
bills  into  Sayre's  hand.  "  I  earn  it  all 
myself,"  he  added;  "  you  keep  that  if 
you  want  it." 

"Thank  you,  my  kind  friend,"  said 
the  little,  dark  man,  his  eyes  glistening. 
"  I  will  borrow  this  of  you  while  I  need 
it.  But  do  not  get  me  any  more.'' 
Not  for  worlds  would  he  thrust  back 
the  money  upon  the  Indian  then  and 
there.  But  he  would  return  him  his 
own  bills  again  before  he  left  the  reser- 
vation. 

"This  won't  do,  Catherine,"  said 
Green  in  an  undertone  to  his  wife. 
"  See  here,  Mrs.  Sayre,"  he  added 
aloud,  "of  course  you'll  stay  here  as 
long  as  you  need  to ;  we  sha'n't  think  of 
anything  else.  Do  you  want  the  In- 
dians glowering  at  us?"  he  asked  in 
another  aside.  "  You'd  better  take 
care." 

To  go  to  Mrs.  Rathman's  with  their 
family,  although  urgently  invited,  would 


have  seriously  inconvenienced  the  mis- 
sionaries. To  accept  Wolf's  Teeth's 
offer,  to  say  nothing  of  its  inconven- 
ience, would  publish  disagreement  with 
the  new  .  people,  —  although  for  the 
moment  Sayre  was  tempted  to  do  it. 
Under  the  circumstances  they  had  a 
right  to  remain  at  the  school. 

And  they  did  so. 

The  following  evening  Hutchins  and 
Sayre  with  their  families  quitted  the 
reservation. 

Their  hearts  were  heavy  as  they 
realized  the  troubles  that  must  come 
from  the  men  who  had  taken  their 
places,  and  feared  the  despair  and 
wreck  that  would  come  to  many  lives 
under  the  old  Indian  rule  which  Sayre 
had  seen  in  his  glance  at  Queseo's  face 
was  purposed,  even  if  the  next  day  had 
not  brought  assurance  of  this. 

For  Pow-watz  had  come  to  demand 
rather  than  to  ask  a  medicine  dance; 
and  his  lowering  visage  had  secured  to 


142 

him  all  his  desires.  It  had  been  one  of 
the  triumphs  not  to  be  soon  forgotten 
that  this  demand  had  been  granted  to 
him  in  the  very  face  of  Hutchins  whose 
beginning  of  explanation  of  the  danger 
of  it  had  been  met  by  the  statement  that 
he  was  "out"  now,  and  that  it  belonged 
to  those  who  were  "in"  to  decide  such 
matters. 

Hereafter  Pow-watz  would  have  a 
clearer  idea  than  ever  of  what  being 
"  out"  meant. 


VII. 

RS.    SAYRE   had    tried   so 
hard   to   bring   Wasu  away 
with   her.      It    would    also 
have   been   the   surest  way 
to  get  hold  of  Chekotoco. 

Wolf's  Teeth  would  have  been  glad ; 
but  her  mother  refused.  The  agent 
also  had  interfered.  Wasu  was  the  best 
trained  girl  in  housework  in  the  school ; 
Mrs.  Green  needed  her  help.  It  was 
meddlesome  in  them  to  have  any  longer 
interest  in  the  Indians,  and,  turned  out 
with  ignominy  as  they  had  been,  they 
had  better  leave  things  alone. 

They  had  tried  to  have  Wasu  married 
at  Mr.  Rathmam's  that  evening  of  their 
deposition.  But  Chekotoco,  not  fore- 
seeing any  such  arrangement,  had  fol- 


144 

lowed  his  father  to  camp,  and  had  not 
returned  the  next  day,  being  in  fact 
kept  prisoner  by  Queseo  who  chose 
that  he  should  have  no  final  talk  with 
Sayre.  Mr.  Rathman,  however,  prom- 
ised to  look  after  the  two,  to  marry 
them,  and,  if  possible,  to  send  them  out 
of  the  reservation  to  the  place  that 
Sayre  had  opened  for  them. 

Sayre  wrote  Chekotoco  all  final  direc- 
tions, wrote  his  friend  that  Hutchins 
and  himself  had  been  kicked  out  of  the 
service  as  if  they  had  disgraced  it,  but 
that  the  young  Indian  with  his  wife 
would  probably  be  with  him  at  about 
such  a  time. 

Then  he  waited  for  news  of  them. 

The  letter  to  Chekotoco  reached  the 
office.  Barnes  had  taken  upon  himself 
the  duty  of  distributing  the  mail.  He 
and  Green  decided  that  the  letter  was 
from  Sayre,  and  that  it  was  not  for 
their  interest  to  deliver  it.  They 
pigeon-holed  it.  In  case  of  necessity 


145 

it  could  appear  as  something  over- 
looked. 

At  the  time  of  its  arrival  the  young 
man  was  hanging  about  the  school, 
waiting  to  see  Wasu.  It  was  only  two 
days  from  the  time  set  for  their  wed- 
ding, and  they  perceived  not  the  small- 
est preparation.  Mr.  Rathman  who 
realized  that  being  upon  bad  terms  with 
the  new  people  would  hamper  his  work, 
had  taken  no  action  in  the  matter 
further  than  gaining  a  promise  from 
Wasu  that  she  would  come  to  him  if  she 
needed  him. 

"Have  you  asked  her?"  said  the 
young  man  as  he  and  Wasu  stood 
talking  together. 

Wasu  answered  her  lover  that  she 
had  not.  "  She  so  cross,"  added  the 
girl.  "  She  say  she  need  me  all  the 
time,  I  too  big  to  go  to  school  any 
longer,  I  know  enough.  Mrs.  Sayre, 
she  always  told  me  to  study  more,  it  do 
me  good.  I  do  what  Mrs.  Sayre  tells 


146 

me.  I  go  to  school  every  afternoon. 
I  get  out  of  her  way,  too,"  said  the 
Indian  girl  with  a  shrewd  smile.  "  You 
ask  Mr.  Green,  Chekotoco,"  she  went  on. 

"  I  did  ask  him.  He  said  he  was  too 
busy  to  talk  about  it.  You  ask  her 
tomorrow." 

"  Yes,  I  will,"  returned  Wasu. 

And  then  Mrs.  Green  called  her. 

"Don't  be  standing  round  talking  to 
young  men,  Wasu ;  it's  very  bad  in 
you,"  she  said  sharply  as  the  girl  en- 
tered the  house. 

Wasu's  eyes  opened  wide ;  she 
turned  breathless  a  moment  in  amaze- 
ment and  anger.  Then  she  began, 

"  Chekotoco"  — 

"  I  don't  want  to  hear  one  word  about 
Chekotoco,"  interrupted  the  other. 
"  Put  your  thoughts  upon  your  work 
and  see  if  you  can't  wash  those  dishes 
quicker  than  you  did  yesterday.  My 
gracious  !  such  slowness  !  I  can't  stand 
it." 


*47 

It  was  true  that  Wasu  was  slow ;  but 
she  was  very  thorough,  and  she  was 
conscientious  to  a  remarkable  degree. 
When  Mrs.  Sayre  had  wanted  to  hurry 
her  she  used  to  run  a  race  with  her  and 
would  sometimes  let  the  girl  come  out 
ahead  laughing  at  her  triumph.  Then 
she  would  say,  "  Wasu,  you  got  up 
steam  that  time."  It  had  been  so  easy 
to  work  then  Wasu  said  to  herself  that 
afternoon,  and  even  things  she  did  not 
like  to  do  had  always  gone  off  well 
when  Mrs.  Sayre  was  round.  She  did 
not  go  off  to  her  work  in  response  to 
Mrs.  Green's  order.  She  faced  the  wife 
of  the  new  superintendent. 

"  Chekotoco  and  I  be  married  the 
day  after  tomorrow,"  she  announced. 
"  Mrs.  Sayre,  she  was  going  to  give 
us  a  wedding,  and  have  lemonade  for 
the  Indians;  we  have  a  fine  time. 
Didn't  she  tell  you  about  it  ?  " 

"  A  wedding  !  And  lemonade  !  And 
all  the  Indians  howling  around  here  ? 


148 

Goodness  gracious!  'Twould  drive  me 
wild  to  think  of  it.  What  a  crazy 
notion.  None  of  such  nonsense  for 

M 

me. 

Wasu  did  not  know  what  "  crazy" 
meant ;  but  she  did  understand  and 
resent  the  word  "  nonsense."  Her 
temper  which  under  Mrs.  Sayre's  judi- 
cious and  affectionate  treatment  had 
seemed  to  have  no  existence,  began  to 
flame.  But  she  still  controlled  herself. 

"  Didn't  Mrs.  Sayre  tell  you  ? "  she 
repeated. 

"  No,  indeed  !  "  returned  the  other. 

A  shadow  fell  over  Wasu's  face.  "  I 
be  married  the  day  after  tomorrow  just 
the  same,"  she  said.  "  I  promise  Che- 
kotoco." 

"What  of  that?  Tell  him  you've 
changed  your  mind.  Lots  of  white  girls 
do  that.  I  promised  three  men  and 
changed  my  mind  before  I  married  Mr. 
Green." 

"  I    should   think   he  not  have  you," 


149 

returned  Wasu.  "  He  better  not,"  she 
added. 

The  other's  face  crimsoned  with  fury. 
She  stamped  her  foot.  But  something 
in  the  Indian  girl's  look  restrained  her. 
As  soon  as  she  could  command  her 
voice,  she  said. 

"  Just  for  your  impertinence,  if  noth- 
ing else,  I  sha'n't  let  you  be  married 
till  I'm  ready.  I've  got  to  train  some- 
body to  take  your  place  first,  and  I 
sha'n't  hurry,  I  tell  you." 

"I  not  know  what  impertinence 
means,"  answered  Wasu.  "  But  I 
promised  Chekotoco,  and  I  marry 
him." 

"  Don't  answer  me  back  again,  and 
go  to  your  work.  You  will  do  as  I  tell 
you.  That's  what  we're  here  for,  to 
make  the  Indians  mind." 

Nevertheless,  she  was  slightly  aston- 
ished when  the  girl  disappeared. 

Ten  minutes  later  she  went  into  the 
kitchen  to  find  it  empty. 


I5Q 

Wasu  had  run  over  to  the  mission- 
ary's with  all  her  speed. 

She  told  her  story  with  the  pathos  of 
helplessness  mingling  with  her  anger. 
"  Mrs.  Sayre  promise  me  she  tell  her 
about  the  wedding,"  she  said  with  a 
grief  over  betrayed  friendship  deeper 
than  her  anger. 

"Mrs.  Sayre  did  tell  her,  Wasu," 
cried  Mrs.  Rathman,  "  I  heard  her  my- 
self." 

"And  Mrs.  Green,  she  tell  me  a  lie?" 
cried  the  girl.  "  I  never  go  into  her 
house  again  ;  she  not  fit  for  Indians." 

Mr.  Rathman's  moustache  concealed 
his  smile,  and  Mrs.  Rathman  looked  at 
her  with  shining  eyes. 

"  But  what  will  you  do,  Wasu  dear?" 
she  asked. 

"  I  stay  with  you." 

"  I  should  be  too  glad  to  have  you  ; 
but  it  would  make  trouble  with  those 
people.  Still,  you  shall  not  be  sent 
away." 


"  I  not  make  trouble,"  returned  Wasu. 
"  I  go  home."  But  the  tone  was  sad. 
For  Wasu's  mother  was  a  camp  Indian; 
she  often  wandered  off  from  Wolf's 
Teeth  to  the  freedom  of  the  Indian 
village,  and  if  she  had  control  of  Wasu, 
there  was  little  doubt  but  that  she 
would  take  the  girl  with  her  whether 
Wasu  wished  it  or  not.  The  young 
girl  perceived  all  this,  for  tears  ran  over 
her  downcast  face.  "There's  plenty  of 
room  in  the  camps,"  she  added,  "  they 
always  like  Indians  in  the  camps." 

And  then  she  began  to  sob. 

"  No,  no,  dear  child,  you  shall  not  go 
there,"  cried  the  missionary's  wife.  "  I 
have  it,  Will,"  she  said  to  her  husband. 
"Marry  them  on  the  spot.  Send  for 
Chekotoco  this  moment." 

"  I'll  do  it!"  cried  Rathman.  And  he 
sent  his  messenger. 

"  Chekotoco  must  be  right  round 
here,"  said  Wasu  drying  her  eyes. 

Mrs.  Rathman  brought  out  some  cake, 


152 

made  coffee  in  place  of  the  coveted 
lemonade,  and  found  a  ring  that  would 
serve  as  a  wedding  ring,  for  she  com- 
prehended that  the  need  of  symbols  is 
in  inverse  ratio  to  the  presence  of  civili- 
zation. She  sent  for  Wolf 's  Teeth,  and 
when  he  came  she  explained  the  cir- 
cumstances to  him  as  well  as  she  could 
without  saying  evil  of  Mrs.  Green  and 
speaking  too  plainly  of  the  situation 
generally. 

But  the  Indian  saw  as  clearly  as  she 
did.  He  approved  of  the  step. 

"  They  hold  on  to  the  young  In- 
dians down  in  the  camp,"  he  said. 
"They  not  let  them  marry  white  man's 
way.  I  not  want  Wasu  there.  She 
marry  Chekotoco  now  ;  and  then  she  go 
back  to  the  school.  And  Mr.  Sayre,  he 
send  soon,  he  always  do  as  he  say. 
Then  they  go  way  off.  It  hard  for 
me;  but  it  better  for  them.  I  do  like 
the  white  man." 

At  the  end  of  the  simple  service  Mrs. 


'53 

Green  and  her  husband  and  the  agent 
walked  in.  The  woman  was  white  with 
rage,  and  treated  the  company  to  a  few 
expressions  more  forcible  than  elegant. 
She  flatly  refused  to  take  back  Wasu ; 
she  attacked  the  missionaries  for  abet- 
ting the  girl  in  disobedience,  and  de- 
clared that  the  camp  was  the  best  place 
for  such  Indians. 

Chekotoco  raised  his  head  haughtily. 

"We  go  to  camp,"  he  said.  "My 
father  Indian  chief.  We  stay  there  till 
Mr.  Sayre  send  for  us.  Come,  Wasu." 

The  girl's  tears  came  again. 

"  No,  you  shall  not  go  to  camp,  you 
shall  stay  here  with  us,"  cried  Mrs. 
Rathman.  "  You  shall  work  in  the 
mission  till  you  go  away." 

Mr.  Rathman  seconded  the  invitation 
heartily. 

The  girl  looked  up  at  her  young 
husband  wistfully. 

"  Fine  encouragement  to  insubordina- 
tion you're  setting,"  cried  Mr.  Barnes. 


154 

"  I  declare,  you  shall  be  reported  as 
mischief  makers,  interfering  between  us 
and  our  duties.  You  shall  suffer  for 
this." 

Chekotoco's  decision  was  made. 

"They  shall  not  suffer  for  us,  Wasu," 
he  said.  "They've  been  kind  to  us. 
We  thank  you."  And  he  turned  to  the 
missionaries.  "  Come,  Wasu,"  he  said 
again.  "Mr.  Sayre  send  soon." 

Barnes  and  Green  exchanged  glances. 
They  believed  that  Mr.  Sayre's  letter 
was  where  it  would  take  some  time  in 
reaching  the  young  people. 

"No,  we  not  do  that,"  said  Wasu 
sadly.  And  Wolf's  Teeth  joined  them. 
"We  live  all  right  in  the  camp,  Mrs. 
Rathman,"  said  the  young  bride.  "  We 
make  other  Indians  want  to  come  and 
get  married,  too." 

And  so,  in  spite  of  all  persuasions, 
they  went  away. 

Barnes  never  troubled  himself  to 
learn  what  followed. 


But  three  weeks  later  he  received  a 
letter  from  Say  re's  friend  who,  having 
heard  no  word  from  the  young  Indians, 
wrote  to  inquire  about  them.  Barnes 
returned  answer  that  they  had  gone 
back  to  camp  like  all  Indians,  and  were 
probably  as  bad  as  the  worst;  it  often 
happened  so. 

The  inquirer  was  convinced  that  his 
friend  Sayre  was  too  big-hearted  to  be 
anything  but  a  "crank"  on  Indian 
matters,  and  Sayre  could  never  get  a 
satisfactory  explanation  of  the  reason 
why  the  other  had  changed  his  mind 
and  would  take  no  more  trouble  in  the 
matter,  in  spite  of  the  urgency  of  the 
ex-superintendent  when  he  learned  the 
whole  story. 

Three  days  had  gone  by,  three  days 
never  to  be  forgotten  in  the  lives  of 
these  two  young  Indians  who  had  found 
among  their  own  people  the  iron  hand 
of  a  despotism  that  the  civilized  world 


has  outgrown.  Queseo  would  by  no 
means  endure  that  his  own  son  should 
defy  his  rule, — this  would  be  an  excep- 
tion which  would  make  everthing  in- 
complete. 

As  to  a  girl,  she  was  scarcely  worth 
the  thought  necessary  to  bring  her  into 
submission.  Poor  Wasu  was  hoping 
that  she  would  be  considered  of  too 
little  consequence  to  be  remembered  at 
all  on  this  day  which  was  so  full  of 
importance  to  the  wild  Indians,  the 
day  of  the  great  dance.  She  had  said 
to  herself  that  if  she  could  not  stay  at 
the  camps  and  live  a  civilized  life,  it 
would  be  easy  to  go  back  again  to  Mrs. 
Rathman. 

But  it  was  not  so.  Chekotoco  was  to 
be  made  an  example  of  submission,  and 
she,  as  the  wife  of  the  chief's  son,  was 
to  be  fitted  for  him  in  all  Indian  ways. 

She  hid  her  face  in  her  hands  as  she 
recalled  with  a  shudder  the  looks  and 
words  of  the  squaws  who  had  told  her 


this  in  more  forceful  terms  than  words 
alone,  as  they  had  torn  off  from  her 
roughly  the  clothing  she  had  worn  to 
camp  and  had  put  the  Indian  dress  in  its 
place. 

And  when  she  had  put  on  another 
one  from  her  trunk  which  Mrs.  Green 
had  sent  after  her,  this  had  been  treated 
in  the  same  way,  and  the  trunk  taken 
from  her.  She  must  wear  the  Indian 
dress,  or  nothing. 

But  the  dance  was  about  to  begin. 
If  they  would  only  forget  her!  And 
where  was  Chekotoco  ?  She  had  not 
seen  him  all  day,  not  since  he  had  left 
the  tepee  when  Pow-watz  had  sent  for 
him  that  morning. 

Why  would  not  this  be  a  good  time 
to  run  away  to  the  agency,  to  run  away 
from  the  reservation  altogether  ?  They 
were  like  white  people,  and  these  would 
help  them. 

And  then  Wasu  remembered  her  In- 
dian dress  ;  and  again  she  buried  in  her 


hands  the  face  that  she  had  lifted  in  a 
momentary  hope,  and  sobbed  bitterly. 

Oh,  where  was  Mr.  Sayre's  letter? 
Where  was  Mrs.  Sayre's  love  for  her  ? 
Why  had  she  and  Chekotoco  known 
better  at  all,  if  this  was  to  be  the  end  of 
it?  What  did  they  go  to  school  and 
learn  white  ways  for,  if  it  was  only  to 
have  more  pain? 

Poor  little  Wasu  !  Here  she  was  in 
the  forefront  of  the  battle,  helpless,  as 
unarmed  as  ignorance,  overawed  by  the 
tyranny  to  which  her  early  training  had 
made  her  susceptible,  and,  more  even 
than  this,  she  had  been  under  physical 
compulsion  and  might  be  again  at  any 
moment. 

Chekotoco  and  she  were  indeed  in 
the  forefront  of  the  battle,  and  all  the 
forces  which  should  have  brought  aid 
had  retired  and  left  them  unsupported. 

As  Wasu  sobbed  on,  softly,  lest  even 
this  noise  should  betray  her,  her  quick 
ear  caught  the  sound  of  steps. 


159 

She  listened. 

They  were  coming  nearer. 

She  threw  her  glance  about  the 
tepee ;  and  with  the  step  of  a  cat  crept 
to  a  pile  of  robes  thrown  upon  the 
floor,  and  in  the  stifling  heat  opened 
the  mass  and  plunged  into  it,  throwing 
the  robes  entirely  over  herself  as  she 
crouched  on  the  earth,  leaving  only  a 
little  space  close  by  the  ground  for 
breath. 

The  steps  came  to  the  door  of  the 
tepee,  and  stopped. 

Three  squaws,  one  of  them  Cheko- 
toco's  mother,  looked  in. 

"  She  run  away,"  said  one. 

"No,"  said  the  chiefs  squaw;  "I 
watch  the  tepee  all  day ;  and  Wa-sa-jah 
watch  other  side.  Queseo  say  so. 
She's  here,  Who-lac-cy." 

The  search  began. 

"  I  told  you  she's  here,"  said  the 
leader,  dragging  out  Wasu. 

They  led  her  off  in  triumph.     They 


i6o 

prepared  her  for  the  dance.  Two  held 
her  hands,  and  the  third  painted  her 
face.  She  found  that  struggle  was  only 
likely  to  get  the  paint  into  her  eyes  and 
mouth,  and  so  she  stood  still.  Then 
they  unbound  her  hair. 

At  the  end  of  their  labors  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  recognize 
Wasu,  the  school  girl.  She  was  com- 
pletely an  Indian  squaw.  Only  He  that 
looketh  not  on  the  outward  appearance 
could  know  that  she  was  just  the  same 
with  only  an  added  hate  of  Indian  ways. 

It  was  her  mother  who  led  her  out 
into  the  space  where  the  dancers  were 
assembled. 

Wolf's  Teeth  was  not  there. 

Here  were  the  squaws  hideous  with 
paint,  and  the  braves  even  more 
hideous.  The  tomtoms  were  beating, 
the  men  and  women  were  taking  their 
places.  Eyes  always  hard  were  grow- 
ing harder  with  the  glint  of  excitement 
in  them. 


r6i 

Pow-watz  at  Queseo's  elbow  presided 
and  governed  all  things.  His  cruel 
eyes  took  in  the  shrinking  Wasu,  and 
watched  as  Chekotoco  in  the  full 
Indian  rig  which  had  been  forced  upon 
him  by  threats  that  Wasu  should  never 
hear,  threats  of  danger  to  her,  crossed 
the  space  and  came  up  to  her. 

Others  were  watching,  also,  young 
people  like  these,  who,  like  these,  had 
submitted  to  their  hard  fate,  whose 
eyes  were  full  of  pity  for  the  two, 
and  for  one  another,  but  whose  lips 
dared  utter  here  no  word  of  sympathy. 

But  Wasu  and  Chekotoco  in  that 
moment  saw  only  each  other. 

She  put  her  hand  into  his,  and  he 
held  it  firmly. 

"We  have  to  do  it,"  he  whispered  to 
her.  We  are  Indians,  and  only  Indians. 
All  the  rest  has  gone  far  away.  This  is 
all  that  is  left.  This  is  our  home.  We 
must  live  in  our  home." 

He   led  her  into   the  dance    where 


Queseo  and  Pow-watz  had  commanded 
their  attendance. 

And  in  so  doing  he  led  her  into  the 
old  Indian  life. 

What  bitter  tears,  what  sorrows  are 
before  them ! 

And  like  them  there  are  hundreds,  — 
yes,  thousands. 


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A  volume  of  gossippy  social  and  literary  papers  touching 
almost  every  interesting  topic  in  the  current  of  contemporary 
thought. 

"  Mr.  Harte  is  a  litterateur  of  the  light  and  humorous  sort,  with  a  keen 
eye  for  observation  and  an  extremely  facile  pen.  He  has  some  original 
ideas,  and  always  an  original  way  of  putting  things.  We  have  looked 
the  book  over  with  considerable  care,  finding  every  now  and  again  a 
passage  which  attracted  attention,  and  lingering  in  the  middle  of  two  or 
three  of  the  papers  with  the  feeling  that  the  writer  if  not  quite  a  genius, 
is  very  closely  related  to  one.  There  is  a  sly  and  quiet  humor  every- 
where present,  and  bits  of  sarcasm  scattered  here  and  there  which  pro- 
voke a  quiet  smile.  On  the  whole,  we  give  a  warm  welcome  to  the 
volume,  and  hope  that  the  author  will  soon  sharpen  his  quill  for  more 
work  of  the  same  kind." — New  York  Herald. 

WOMEN  IN  THE  BUSINESS  WORLD. 

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of  women.  Its  object  is  to  help  women  to  help  themselves. 
The  word  Business  is  used  in  this  book  in  its  most  unlimited 
sense.  It  represents  all  the  occupations  in  which  people 
engage  —  agriculture,  mechanics,  the  arts  and  sciences,  and 
the  work  within  the  home.  The  Business  World  includes 
all  the  industrial  affairs  of  life. 

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